Panasonic Jaguar Racing are geared up for Formula E’s regroup in Chile for this weekend’s Santiago E-Prix.
The double-header in Diriyah last time out kickstarted the series’ sixth season, with the British team scoring in both races.
It was, however, a mixed weekend as Mitch Evans scraped his way into 10th to take the final points-paying position in Race 1 – he also bagged the point for fastest lap.
Saturday’s second race started brightly when the New Zealander made it into Super Pole, but his race was compromised after he collided with Sam Bird, forcing him to pit for repairs and was then later given a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.
Following the Christmas break, Evans is recharged and ready to put into practice what he learned about the new car as FE heads to Santiago.
“Having had Christmas and the New Year at home in New Zealand with my family to digest the first two rounds of the season, I’m ready to return to Santiago and build on my championship points,” Evans said.
“There were learnings from Saudi Arabia which we have understood and learnt from as a team. Once again it has demonstrated just how vital qualifying is and I’m keen to celebrate the start of 2020 with a great qualifying position and race result in Santiago.”
Evans’ team-mate James Calado’s rookie weekend in Saudi Arabia was somewhat of a learning curve, even though the British driver came home with more points than his more-experienced team-mate.
Calado’s mistake in the first qualifying session meant he had to begin his maiden outing from the back of the grid. He remained out of trouble throughout the race however to cross the line in 16th position.
Race 2 saw another disappointing showing in qualifying but amid all the chaos of the race, Calado was classified in a remarkable seventh place, leaping up to 11th in the Drivers’ Championship with six points to his name.
The 30-year old feels he still has a lot to learn in the series in getting to grips with his “new challenge” of street circuits and electric racing:
“My first race weekend was a huge learning curve and having had a few weeks to work with my engineers, I feel fully prepared for Santiago.
“I’m excited to get back out on track and improve on my qualifying performance. Street circuits and electric racing is still a new challenge for me, but something I am confident I can crack very soon.
“Having finished seventh in round two, I’m now focused on improving and looking for more points again in round three for the team.”
Jaguar team boss James Barclay is confident heading into the third round and recognises that whilst they need to iron out the mistakes that cost them more points in Saudi, there were some positives to take from the weekend.
“The first race weekend of the season demonstrated that we have a competitive package for this season. [We] have created a competitive racecar which we think is capable of putting us in the points and on the podium this season.
“We achieved the fastest lap in round one – a great accolade for Mitch and the team behind the scenes.
“There were mistakes made in Diriyah along with penalty points that didn’t allow us to capitalise and make more of our pace, but as always, we will learn from them and are ready to take on round three and convert our pace into more points.”
