From sweltering Hong Kong to the labyrinthine souks of Marrakesh – Panasonic Jaguar Racing as well as Formula E make their first appearances on the African continent on November 12th 2016.Jaguar made a solid start to its motorsport return in October and is hoping to use the lessons learned at the Hong Kong ePrix for its second race. Britain’s Adam Carroll finished 12th in a hectic, safety-car interrupted race, while New Zealander Mitch Evans was forced into retirement by a technical issue.
As Jaguar is still new, experience is what counts as Team Director James Barclay explained: “Running the cars under race conditions was extremely valuable from a development point of view as all the information we can gather is key at this stage.”
“After flying back to the UK, we have been undertaking simulation work in preparation for Marrakesh and both drivers have been in fitness training to prepare themselves for the warm conditions we expect the Marrakesh ePrix to serve up,” he continued. Carroll added: “All time spent together as a new team is extremely valuable as the better we know each other the better we will perform in stressful situations, which as a race team we will inevitably have.”
Apart from growing together as a team as well as developing their electric race car “I-TYPE”, the performance on track is also important. “As always when you’re in a new car, you have to adjust your style a bit to figure out how to get the most out of the car. I’ve been working hard with the team to adapt my driving style to do that, particularly in regard to being efficient with energy management,” Evans explained.
The action on the streets of Marrakesh in Morocco will start in five days from now, with the first free practice starting at 9am (CET) on Saturday.