DUBAI: New season. New partnerships. New goals.
For Jaguar Racing Team Principal James Barclay, the Diriyah E-Prix double-header is a chance to make a assault on the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, having finished seventh last time out.
“We're really pleased to be back in Diriyah and this track is actually becoming very quickly a real favorite to the drivers. It's really fast, really flowing, really technical, it's a real challenge for the drivers,” he said. “You're getting up to some very high speeds, and in sector two and three it's very, very challenging so it's got a combination of slow speed, to really high speed, to really demanding corners that kind of require a lot of bravery from the drivers. So they love it for that reason and we love it.”
This year, the drivers will be experiencing another first at Diriyah; racing at night under revolutionary, for racing at least, LED lighting.
“The simple fact is, it’s this kind of unique style of circuit but importantly as well what we're doing here in the first ever night race, which is kind of groundbreaking,” he’s said. “Formula E takes the rulebook rips it up and writes a new way of racing. Racing under floodlights for the first time powered by fully sustainable source is a really important message as well so not only is it going to be great for fans to enjoy but behind it all is a really important message behind sustainability as well.”
Jaguar Racing’s two drivers for the 2020-21 season are Briton Sam Bird, who replaced James Calado, Mitch Evans, the who joined the team in 2016.
“It’s been an incredible experience, I’m very fortunate to be with Jaguar from the start actually, I joined Formula E at the same time (as the team) as a rookie and it’s been a great journey,” the Kiwi driver said. “We’ve had some great memories, some ups and downs, but you know it’s been great to be together for this time and it’s important to build that relationship and trust within the team and I really feel part of the brand and the whole technical team.”
Evans, who has racked up two wins and six podiums, is hoping that the team can be among the challengers for the championship.
“We were leading at one point during the championship and unfortunately slipped down to seventh towards the end so yeah definitely the goal is to aim for the championship overall,” Evans added. “If we can’t do that, we want to finish as high up as possible, hopefully with more race wins and good memories. But ultimately we want to be fighting for the championship.”
Helping him reach the goal is Bird, who already has nine Formula E wins and 19 podiums to his name. The Jaguar Racing management are delighted he’s joined.
“We're really fortunate to have Sam join the team, we've kind of always been talking about his potential to come to Jaguar,” said Barclay. “For us, it’s his experience, the only driver to win a race in every single season in Formula E is Sam Bird. We love his kind of approach to racing. He's a real fighter you know, he's probably one of the best overtakers in Formula E we’ve seen. The pairing of the two of them is for us really compelling and it's a good position for us to be in to have two drivers of that caliber.”
In the last week Jaguar Racing has also welcomed Micro Focus as its official Digital Transformation, Business Resiliency and Analytics partner.
“Fundamentally they're going to allow us to analyze our huge amount of data quicker and make even smarter decisions as a team,” Barclay added. “So, we’re really proud to have them on board, they're not only supporting our program but they're actually making us faster at the same time and that's the ideal combination.”
Above all, Jaguar Racing’s vision aligns completely with that of Formula E, in more ways than one. Barclay says sustainability is the only way forward.
“We were the first premium manufacturer to commit to Formula E with our full team,” Barclay said. “We manufactured our powertrain and ran the team, and for us it’s because we saw the future is about going electric. Quite simple, the cars that we drive now will be all-electric in the future and that’s been driven by regulation change around the world in many countries now. They’ve set the date for when internal combustion engines will stop, so for us, absolutely it’s the future.
Barclay confirmed that the Jaguar Reimagined strategy, announced last week, will ensure that the Jaguar brand will be all-electric by 2025.
“We’ve made a very clear statement as a brand, and Formula E is our perfect testbed and proving ground for electric vehicle technologies,” he said. “That makes the products we offer to our customers even better, but importantly, we are showcasing at a global level the benefits of electric vehicle from a sustainable mobility perspective as well.”
