- Mitch Evans finishes P7, secures six points and remains in the hunt for drivers’ podium
- Two races remain in Berlin with new layout for 12 and 13 August
- James Calado brings his Jaguar I-TYPE 4 home in P17
Round 9 of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E season six finale saw Antonio Felix da Costa and DS Techeetah crowned drivers’ and teams’ champions after a 1-2 finish. Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans improved on his P9 finish by going two places better to bring his I-TYPE 4 across the line in P7.
The New Zealand driver lined up on the grid in P10 following an improved qualifying performance – just missing out on Super Pole by 0.15 seconds showing the competitiveness of Formula E. As seen before in Formula E the championship’s top 6 drivers in Group 1 of qualifying had the least favourable track conditions. Evans fought his way through the field trading places with René Rast and Felipe Massa. He moves to 6th position in the drivers’ standings only four points behind 3rd and a potential drivers’ podium.
James Calado also improved his qualifying performance but struggled with car balance during the race despite battling as high as P12 at one point in the race. The Briton eventually crossed the line in P17.
The team will now focus on the remaining two races on Wednesday and Thursday utilising two days to study the data and prepare for the revised Berlin track which will be a restart for all the teams.
Congratulations to Antonio and DS Techeetah – they have been exceptional in Berlin. For us, today was really about the cruelty of qualifying in group one. We were just over one tenth off Da Costa and second fastest in the group, yet we started the race in P11. It's one of the things that makes Formula E so exciting, but it can be equally frustrating as a team when you have got almost everything out of qualifying only to be disadvantaged by the track evolution. Mitch made up four places to make it to seventh - he made good progress in the race and we feel that we have the race pace to fight for the podium if we can make it through Group 1 and into Super Pole. James had another good step forward in his I-TYPE 4 in FP3 and qualifying. He suffered in the race with his car balance and unfortunately didn’t have the race he’d hoped for. We now look forward to the last two races and although the championship is now decided - we're going to give it our all to end the season on a high.
James Barclay
Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director
We’ve just completed our fourth race in Berlin. We started in P11 and we moved up to P7 which was good progress. A decent race and we moved forward. I just want to say huge congratulations to Antonio for taking the title. I would have loved to fight with them to the very end but congratulations to DS Techeetah. Now a couple of days to regroup and make a positive finish in the last two races.
Mitch Evans
Panasonic Jaguar Racing Driver #20
MORE POINTS FOR PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING IN THE BERLIN RAIN
MORE POINTS FOR PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING IN THE BERLIN RAIN
MORE POINTS FOR PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING IN THE BERLIN RAIN
We set up the car for the hot conditions then, all of a sudden, the clouds came over and the track really cooled. With the set-up I had and the changing weather conditions, it really didn’t work and I struggled a lot. I was burning energy unnecessarily because I was under-steering and it was a fight from there really. Nice to keep the car in one piece and to finish - these guys did an amazing job. A little happy, a little sad but we move on and a big thanks to all of the team.
