Pretoria, South Africa, 1 July 2024: Jaguar TCS Racing driver Mitch Evans took third place podium in R14 of the 2024 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Portland, moving him into second place in the drivers’ standings. A multiple car concertina incident during the race involving Nick Cassidy resulted in a front wing change and an eventual finish out of the points, though he still retains a 12-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
Despite being a weekend where the team demonstrated strong performance, including a Pole position in R12 and a podium in R13, it was ultimately two difficult races on US soil and a sense of it could have been more in Portland. Despite this, Jaguar TCS Racing retains the lead of the Teams’ World Championship heading to the season finale in London on 20/21 July. The teams’ focus now switches immediately to the season finale, securing the Teams’ World Championship title and supporting Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans in their aspirations to win the Drivers’ World Championship.
With qualifying positions of P6 for Nick and P10 for Mitch, the early stages of the R14 race saw both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers conserve energy, Mitch running in and out of the top ten with Nick tactically dropping further back down the field. By mid-way through the 26-lap race, both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers were in a good position on energy – with Nick one of the strongest in the field – but already the close racing had resulted in many incidents of contact. On lap 13 Nick suffered front wing damage after contact at T1 in what was a concertina incident caused by a car in front. The resulting damage forced him to pit for a new front wing.
On lap 18 a safety car was called so debris from earlier incidents – notably the Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein having lost its nose completely – could be cleared. With the race neutralised, the restart on lap 20 saw Mitch take Attack Mode from P6 almost immediately, carving through the field to run as high as second before eventually taking third place.
Nick was in P17 at the restart but, despite having a significant positive energy delta over the majority of the field, the sprint to the finish meant the race was locked out and there was no opportunity to use that advantage. Nick crossed the line in P13.
James Barclay, Managing Director, JLR Motorsport and Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal: “This has been a weekend of two halves. It’s been positive to end with a podium for Mitch today after all the hard work, but ultimately this weekend was one where we had the performance potential for so much more. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way due to a combination of things both out of and in our control. As always, we will look to see what we could do better and make us stronger as a team.
“I really feel for Nick though. One of the risks of this style of strategic racing and this kind of pack racing is that if someone makes a mistake in front of you, there is sometimes nothing that you can do to avoid those incidents. Nick, yet again, put together a really smart race and he had another amazing opportunity. We were very strong on energy and we felt really positively that we could move forward and fight for a podium or win.
“We now focus our attention to the season finale in London. We’re leading the Teams’ World Championship and we’re first and second in the Drivers’ so we are in a great position and it’s all to play for. London is a special race for us, we’re in front of the home crowd with lots of support from fans and colleagues and we’ll be giving it everything we’ve got to fight for championship success.”
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing driver, #9: “Ultimately it was a really hard-fought race today but really great to get some more points. It was hard to predict before the race how it was going to unfold. I was expecting to get to the front a bit quicker but everyone was driving really aggressively so it was very hard to make progress. I had to get my elbows out which then made it very difficult to take Attack Mode because you lose position. The second Attack Mode got me track position but killed my remaining energy so I couldn’t fight for the win and had to just survive the last few laps to get a podium. We now head to London where we will battle with Porsche and do everything we can to try and win this Teams’ World Championship.”
Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing driver, #37: “In the heat of the moment I was frustrated with today’s result which I think is natural. I had my strategy and was in a really good position. At the time of the contact, I was around P9 with Attack time remaining and was up on energy on the majority of the field. I have a 12-point lead but have scored zero in two races – so it could be much worse. I think we’re going to be strong in London. I’m looking forward to it – it’s one of my favourite tracks on the calendar – and it’s going to be a fight. Stand up and bring it on!”
Rounds 15 and 16 of the 2024 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship take place in London on 20 and 21 July.
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