Panasonic Jaguar Racing made it a hat-trick of points-scoring races in the center of the French capital today. Drivers Mitch Evans and Adam Carroll finished in P9 and P15 respectively, scoring two championship points in the Qatar Airways Paris ePrix.
These valuable points mean the British team leaps to P8 in the team standings at the halfway point of their debut season, with six FIA Formula E races remaining.
Racing around the historic Les Invalides complex, the Paris ePrix was a stop-start race. A number of incidents caused safety cars and periods of full course yellow flags, challenging the Jaguar team to adapt their race strategy and react to the events on the track.
Evans and Carroll lined up on the grid in P8 and P19 respectively. When a competitor collision on lap 16 lap triggered a full course yellow flag, the Jaguar duo pitted early to take advantage of the slow moving cars on track.
This strategy promoted Adam Carroll to P15 when he returned to racing but he was given a drive-through penalty for completing his pit stop, less than one second under the minimum time. Carroll finished the Paris ePrix in P15.
Mitch Evans, second in his qualifying group earlier in the day, pitted from his points scoring position of P8 but due to a small issue on his second car, re-joined the action out of position but fought back through the remaining laps to achieve a final classification of P9, his third consecutive points finish in his rookie season.
James Barclay, Team Director, Panasonic Jaguar Racing:
I’m proud of the team for coming away with another points finish. This is a very tricky circuit and a new one for the Jaguar team but we brought both cars home and came away with a deserved result.
We had a bit of misfortune during the pit stops today. Adam was given a drive-through penalty and Mitch had an issue with his second car, which cost him some time. We will investigate both of these issues.
Ultimately, the Jaguar I-TYPE package and the team are making very positive progress. We are demonstrating competitive qualifying and race pace. We are gaining so much experience each weekend and we’re looking forward to continuing our learning year with our first double-header in Berlin next month.
Mitch Evans, #20:
I enjoyed my first race in Paris today. It is an amazing place to be and thrilling to be on track in such an iconic city. The race was challenging for all the drivers today. The circuit is very tricky but I really got to grips with it as the day went on and I was happy to be competitive in my qualifying group. If we had been in a later group, who knows how far forward we could have started.
The team made the right decision to pit under the full course yellow but we had a small issue that lost me some time in exiting the garage and we’ll look into that after the race. Ultimately, I am really happy to score points for the third race in a row and I am determined to continue to learn and race hard in the second half of the season.
Adam Carroll, #47:
It’s been a tough day for me but a positive result again for Jaguar. This is the nature of such a competitive championship as Formula E and I’m going to work really hard to come back stronger in the second half of the season.
It’s great that the team has scored points again. Both Mitch and I stayed out of trouble and the team was ready to take advantage of the early opportunity with the full course yellow. I was unlucky with the penalty but we accept that and look forward to the next two races in Berlin.
Panasonic Jaguar Racing now takes off for Germany, for the final race of the European leg and the first of three consecutive double-header races. The Berlin ePrix takes place on Jun 10 and 11 at the former Tempelhof Airport.
Note: Press release courtesy of Jaguar Racing.