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Heartbreak for Mitch Evans

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Jaguar Racing finished runner-up in season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship teams’ standings after a unpredictable season finale on the Berlin Tempelhof circuit on Sunday.

This season has been the most successful so far in Jaguar Racing’s five-year Formula E campaign with seven podiums, two wins, one pole position and 177 points scored. The British team narrowly missed out of victory by just four points from Mercedes EQ.

New Zealander, Mitch Evans, finished fourth overall in season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E Drivers’ World Championship securing five podiums for the British team. Teammate, Sam Bird finished sixth in the championship with two wins, three podiums and a pole position.

In Saturday’s penultimate race Evans had a great start, overtaking Sebastian Buemi into the first corner. Evans continued to show the pace of the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 by carving his way through the pack, overtaking Jean-Éric Vergne, António Félix Da Costa, René Rast and finally Norman Nato to take third place. Evans demonstrated his talent by successfully defending from the Venturi driver for the final minutes of the race. The Kiwi secured his fifth third-place podium – the most podiums of any driver so far this season.

Sam Bird qualified in twelfth on Saturday after a solid session from group one but carried a three-place grid penalty from London. The Brit also started well gaining two places off the line to get him into thirteenth place. He continued to progress forward to just outside of the points before a technical issue on his car forced him to retire.

The final race of the championship on Sunday started with heartbreak for front-runner Mitch Evans and the team as his racecar had a technical fault and didn’t launch off the line. By making it into Super Pole from group one and qualifying third the Kiwi put himself in a great position to win the drivers’ title.

Briton, Sam Bird, secured valuable points and held off the chasing pack in the teams’ championship. Despite a tricky qualifying, he scythed his way through the field, climbing fifteen places to finish seventh.

James Barclay, Team Director Jaguar Racing, said: “As a team, we put ourselves in a position to fight for both the drivers’ and teams’ championship this season and that’s what we’re most proud of. It was a massive shame for Mitch in the season finale, the team have worked so hard all season to put both of our drivers and Jaguar Racing into the championship fight. Sam performed an incredible drive through the field today, gaining 15 places to secure runners-up in the teams’ world championship. This has been our best season and we have made huge progress – seven podiums, two wins, one pole position and only four points off first place is an amazing achievement. I would like to thank all our commercial partners who contribute to our success and our loyal fans. Congratulations to Nyck de Vries and Mercedes – they fought hard to the very end. We’ll be back next year to fight for the title and to make it to the top step.”

Sam Bird, #10 Jaguar Racing driver, said: “A good day in the office for me – I really enjoyed coming through the field and I was determined to get a good finish for the team. I’m really gutted for Mitch who was in with a great shot today. The team have done an amazing job all year and I’d like to thank every single person and our fans for everything this season. I can’t wait to start my second season with Jaguar in Formula E”

Mitch Evans, #20 Jaguar Racing driver, said: “We appeared to have some failure after the launch in the car today. It was over before it even started so it was obviously not meant to be this year. I’m gutted for the whole team to not get a run at it today but to be able to finish second in the teams’ championship is still huge progress. I want to thank everyone who has put in so much hard work this year. We’ll come back fighting again next year.”

Jaguar Racing looks forward to season eight of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship where the team will continue to fight for more points, podiums and wins which is due to start on 28 / 29 January 2022 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.