With much of the calendar played in season 9 of Formula E, things are not going well at Jaguar Racing, which expected to be positioned in a better place at this early stage. The team is in sixth place, not insignificant when there is still a lot of work to be done, but this does not please the members of the team.
Nick Cassidy and Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing) are showing what the Jaguar propulsion system can do, as their team is in second place in the team standings, but Jaguar itself, with Sam Bird and Mitch Evans at the wheel, have not lived up to expectations.
When it looked all set for a win in Hyderabad, India, with Evans starting fourth in the standings, Bird crashed heavily in one of the fastest parts of the track: he hit the Maserati MSG Racing machine of Edoardo Mortara. It was such a heavy impact that his team was unable to repair it in time for the race leaving another race weekend without points.
Unmotivated
On the current state of the team, Bird stated that “the guys are really down and I’m down. I just want a good result again, I feel I deserve it, but it’s been a long time coming. I’m doing well, but I don’t have much to show for it.”
“The team worked very hard. We were well prepared and invested a lot and we are always fast. We’re in the top three or four every time we go out on the track. When they take that away from us, it’s really complicated,” he added.
In addition to not being able to take to the track in India, Bird faces a penalty for the Sao Paulo E-Prix, in which he will suffer a five-place drop on the starting grid.
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Not Throwing the Towel in
“It was a disappointing setback for my championship aspirations,” Evans said. “We know we have an incredibly fast car, but I couldn’t get the points I think the team deserved. We’ll try again in Sao Paulo.”
For his part, James Barclay, Jaguar‘s director, also regretted the performance in Hyderabad, but assures that they will get out of the current slump. “As a team, we have already shown that we can prepare the cars for the race even in difficult conditions. But with all that damage, that was simply impossible.”
“We proved that the car is great, it’s fast. Luck will be on our side again, we just have to keep it up,” he assured.
