Panasonic Jaguar Racing make positive progress in Argentina 19.02.2017: ...with season's best qualifying performance Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s South American FIA Formula E debut

...with season's best qualifying performance





Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s South American FIA Formula E debut in Argentina produced more positives for the series’ newest team.  Mitch Evans put together an impressive lap during qualifying to start from P7, just two positions outside the Super Pole group.



 It was the first top ten position for the British team in only its third race.  The New Zealander also put in a P3 time early in the first practice session. His teammate Adam Carroll struggled to find confidence in his car set up and started the race in P15.
 


Mitch’s race was busy from lights to flag as he battled with Nico Prost and Felix Rosenqvist into the first corner pushing him down the order to P9. 



During the first stint the Jaguar I-TYPE driver managed to regain the two positions with some great race craft.  Adam’s race was compromised from the start when his car failed to get off the grid before he was able to start one lap down on the field.
 


Ultimately Mitch narrowly missed out on the team’s debut points finishing P13.  Adam did his best to fight back to finish P17 in front of Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist.  He maximised the opportunity to gain valuable track time and crucial data for the team to analyse ahead of the next race.
 

 
 


James Barclay, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, Team Director: “This was our best qualifying result this season. A really great job by everyone in the team for making positive steps forward since our last race in Marrakesh in November.



Things have truly come together and Mitch did really well managing to run with the front pack. The team should be really proud of what we have achieved today as we moved the performance forward and bridged the gap to the other teams. We have achieved a lot in only three races.”
 


“As always, we are here to improve, especially now in our first year of the championship, our learning year. It was a real shame for Adam to have an issue at the start and it was a huge fight to get back and catch up with the rest of the pack but he did a great job. 



This gave us the chance to try a few different set ups which is great for data capture. In summary we are moving in the right directions and can’t wait for our next race in Mexico.”




Mitch Evans, #20, P13: “It was great to come away from qualifying feeling satisfied with our performance. The team has worked really hard to make progress. We’ve made a really good step forward and that is evident from the result in qualifying.”
 

“The first half of the race was good but I got a bit shuffled around in the beginning which meant that I lost two places which was a bit disappointing, but then the full course yellow neutralised everything and I made up a few places. After that I was running with the front guys. I was happy with the pace and the energy management was going according to plan.”
 

“I was looking forward to holding my position in the second stint, but unfortunately I was struggling to manage the energy for some reason and couldn’t push as hard as before. I dropped four places and ended up just out of the points.



It was really disappointing not to come away with our first points but it just wasn’t meant to be this time. I’m really looking forward to Mexico and this weekend has been a really good motivator for the whole team and a good confidence builder. We will build on that and keep improving as a team.”






Adam Carroll, #47, P17: “Today was tough. The start of the day was promising, we just lost our way a little bit in the second practice as we wanted to keep the car safe for qualifying and not risk anything.



I obviously hoped to be a lot faster than I was, but I can improve on that. I’d hoped to have a strong race and come through but I had an issue with the start, right when I was about to take off I couldn’t launch the car.


We’re not sure why and it’s something that the engineers are looking into now. Luckily, I was able to get going and could continue and complete the race. We got a lot of good data out of it but unfortunately no result this time.”

 




 
Sara Hernmarck , Adrian Atkinson - photos Panasonic Jaguar Racing