Panasonic Jaguar Racing finished 12th on its Formula E Debut

Yesterday, the Panasonic Jaguar Racing Formula E team returned to racing on the challenging downtown Hong Kong street circuit in the FIA Formula E Championship and finished its debut in the series with a battling 12th place finish in a drama filled Hong Kong ePrix.

Practice was the first time the team and its drivers, Adam Carroll and Mitch Evans, had run on a Formula E circuit. Both Carroll and Evans quickly got up to speed ahead of qualifying, when the tight and slippery Hong Kong street circuit in the Central Victoria Harbour area, caught out several of the leading contenders.

This caused the cancellation of the Super Pole qualifying session. Both of its drivers kept out of trouble and out of the wall, to qualify 14th and 16th respectively. Unfortunately Carroll had a three-place grid penalty applied for an earlier infringement in practice which dropped him to 17th on the grid.

In the ePrix both Panasonic Jaguar Racing drivers made good starts and steadily climbed through the order, as the challenging conditions and close racing took its toll. Mitch was up to 10th from 15th on the grid and Adam up to 11th from 17th on the grid when a safety car was deployed on lap 18.

Following the safety car and pit stops, Carroll drove strongly to finish the race in 12th but unfortunately for Evans it was an electrical issue was discovered on his car and to prevent any further damage, the team decided not to run his second car leading to his retirement.

In statements to the media yesterday, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Principal James Barclay believes that only positives can be taken from the team's first race that will allow them to build and improve upon before the Marrakesh ePrix:-

“Panasonic Jaguar Racing can take away many positives from our Formula E debut in Hong Kong. The team and drivers have not raced before in Formula E and we have bedded in as a team, gelled well and learned a huge amount. Our energy conservation in the race was second to none and we have been encouraged by our consistent race pace which saw us move forward through the field. There is good baseline on which to build, and we look forward to Marrakesh and continuing our development.”

Meanwhile Carroll is feeling pretty happy with what he achieved in the ePrix yesterday and thanks his team for all their efforts last weekend:-

“I am feeling pretty pleased. We showed decent and consistent race pace and we were particularly strong on energy management. I would like to say a big thank you to the whole Panasonic Jaguar Racing team. Everybody's worked really hard to get here and we've learnt fast all weekend. There is much more to come.”

And finally Evans is disappointed not to have finished his first ePrix but feels that he has learnt a lot and cannot wait for the next race:-

“It’s a shame I wasn't able to complete the race this time but I've learnt a lot. I made a good start and picked up a couple of places and was running well in the pack. The Jaguar I-Type performed well and I can't wait to get back in the car to race in Marrakesh!”

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa