BIRD BAGS POINTS IN BROOKLYN FOR JAGUAR RACING

11 July 2021

Jaguar Racing driver, Sam Bird, took points in Brooklyn after a challenging day for the British team. The Brit climbed an impressive eleven places, from twentieth to ninth finishing in the points and securing the fastest lap at the tenth round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

  • Jaguar Racing driver, Sam Bird, took points and the fastest lap in Brooklyn after a challenging day for the British team
  • Mitch Evans climbed seven places through the field before an electrical issue caused his Jaguar I-TYPE 5 to retire in the tenth round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
  • Mitch Evans sits joint fifth in the Drivers’ Standings, twelve points behind championship leader, Eduardo Mortara, while teammate Sam Bird is thirteenth
  • Round eleven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship takes place on the same 2.32km, 14 turn circuit tomorrow, Sunday 11 July 2021 at 13:30 local time

Bird had a challenging start to the day in Brooklyn. A crash into the wall in Free Practice 1 meant he was unable to finish the session or go out in Free Practice 2. With a chassis change required, the Jaguar Racing mechanics and engineers worked tirelessly and showed tremendous team work to make sure the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 was ready for qualifying, with just six seconds to spare before Parc Ferme. His run of bad luck continued with a crash in qualifying with Nissan driver, Oliver Rowland. Bird would line up on the grid in P20.

Kiwi, Mitch Evans, started the ABB New York City E-Prix in sixteenth after being at the mercy of group one for the seventeenth race in a row, but showed his racecraft by carving his way through the pack, gaining seven places. Evans demonstrated great pace off-the-line and moved from sixteenth into fourteenth in the first lap, overtaking Oliver Turvey and Sérgio Sette Câmara. He continued to show the speed and efficiency of the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 throughout the race, overtaking Norman Nato, Jake Dennis and Antonio Felix Da Costa and getting up into the points. Unfortunately an electrical issue caused Evans to retire with 27 minutes of the race remaining.

Mitch Evans is now joint fifth in the Drivers’ Standings while teammate Sam Bird is thirteenth. Bird will qualify in group three tomorrow, Evans remains in group one.

Today has been an extremely tough day for the team. Sam’s crash in Free Practice 1 resulted in a chassis change and required a huge effort from the team to get him into qualifying. I am very proud of each and every one one of the team and their sheer determination meant Sam was able to get out for qualifying. Sam repaid the team with an excellent drive in the race - working his way through the field, gaining eleven places and securing a points finish. He also demonstrated first-hand the pace of the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 by also securing the fastest lap. It was an unfortunate race for Mitch today, after another difficult group one qualifying, his seventeenth in a row. He was making great progress and on course for a very strong points finish before his electrical issue. We have immediately shifted our focus to tomorrow now and the great thing about double-headers is we’re able to reset and come back fighting tomorrow.

James Barclay
Team Director Jaguar Racing

Unfortunately I made a mistake this morning and I’ve massively paid for it and so did the team. However the team at Jaguar Racing have done the most incredible job. To even get me out today was just amazing and to have scored points for the team is a little bit of pay back. Sometimes in Formula E you have to get your elbows out and overtake and that’s what I did today. My plan is to put in a good lap in qualifying tomorrow and hopefully we can be fighting at the front.

Sam Bird
#10 Jaguar Racing driver

We had a pretty solid start to our first race, here in New York. I was making my way through the pack and I got myself into the top ten. We unfortunately had an electrical issue which switched the car off and I was unable to reboot it so that was our race over. It’s a real shame as I probably would have got some more points today. Despite not scoring, I’m still in group one which means we’re going to have to fight hard to make our way into the points again tomorrow.

Mitch Evans
#20 Jaguar Racing driver

Further information

For further information about Jaguar Racing, please contact:

Adrian Atkinson, Global PR and Communications Manager, Jaguar Racing

Tel: +44 (0) 7979 554005

Email: aatkins5@jaguarlandrover.com

 

Emily Hogg, Global Brand and Partnerships Officer, Jaguar Racing

Tel: + 44 (0) 7384 532 605

Email: ehogg2@jaguarlandrover.com

Notes to Editors

ABOUT JAGUAR RACING

Jaguar returned to racing in October 2016, becoming the first premium manufacturer to join the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E World Championship street racing series. In 2019 the team won the Rome E-Prix – Jaguar’s first international motorsport victory since 1991.

Formula E is a real-world test bed for Jaguar with its Race To Innovate mission in the future of electrification.

As an official manufacturer team in Formula E, Jaguar Racing designs its own powertrain, which includes the motor, transmission, inverter and rear suspension.

To control costs the carbon fibre chassis and battery are common components and the same for all twelve teams. This allows the focus to be on developing electric vehicle powertrains which are efficient and lightweight which will improve the performance and range of future Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles.

The 2020/21 Formula E season is the first as the all-electric series has been granted full world championship status by the FIA – the sport’s governing body. In September 2020, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was also certified with a net zero carbon footprint from inception - the first global sport to achieve this. This season will be the third year for the teams to be racing with the futuristic Gen2 racecars.

Teams have two racecars, one per driver, which will be used for the full race distance.

Beyond its all-electric concept, Formula E is unique in the world of motorsport for its choice of venues. The championship takes place on temporary street circuits in the centre of the world’s major cities including Santiago, Diriyah, Rome, Paris, Monaco, New York and ending in a double-header race weekend in London.  

Mitch Evans finished season six seventh in the Drivers' Championship and Jaguar Racing finished seventh in the Teams' Standings with a win in Mexico City, a podium in Santiago and one pole position. He is joined for season seven by British driver Sam Bird, who has won a race in every season of Formula E.

In season seven the championship is official recognised as a world championship by the governing body the FIA. It will be known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

 

Race to Innovate

Formula E remains a key priority for Jaguar Land Rover. As the only all-electric world championship, Formula E allows us to test and develop new electric vehicle technologies in a high-performance environment. It continues to be the test-bed for our Race to Innovate mission that will see Race to Road and Road to Race learnings that will help shape our electric future – a future that Jaguar is passionate about, and dedicated to for the benefit of our society, the changing landscape of mobility, sustainability and our customers.