Racing in the Mediterranean principality, Mitch Evans and Adam Carroll succeeded in bringing both cars home through an action-packed race, finishing tenth and 14th respectively.
It was the second consecutive top-ten finish in only the fifth race since Panasonic Jaguar Racing retuned to international racing. After lining up 15th and 18th on the grid, both Evans and Carroll followed an aggressive race strategy, in order to make the most of what was anticipated to be a feisty first stint on the challenging street circuit.
Towards the halfway point of the race, the team took an opportunistic strategy call. Following a collision on track, the British team reacted instantly to the incident, calling both drivers in early to complete their mandatory pit stops.
The safety car was only deployed as the Jaguar duo had entered the pitlane, meaning that New Zealand’s Mitch Evans re-joined the action directly behind the safety car, one lap down from the drivers who pitted later. He was eventually waved past the safety car but had to use valuable energy to re-join the pack, which impacted on his ability to push towards the end of the race.
The 22-year-old crossed the finish line in tenth position, scoring one point. “We made up some places in the race and came away again with valuable points for the second race in a row – we are making solid progress”, noticed Evans.
Team-mate Carroll collected valuable data, finishing 14th. “Racing a technical circuit like this while managing your energy and pace brings its own challenges. Luck didn’t go our way with the Safety Car today, but we focused on our racing and bringing the car home”, explained the 34-year-old.
“To make our European debut and then score points in our first ever Monaco ePrix is special. It was another great learning opportunity to refine how we approach our race strategy from our one-lap pace to our energy Management”, said Team Director James Barclay.
“We went into the race with an aggressive strategy to take an early call on pit stops if there was an incident, and this is what transpired. Unfortunately, the safety car was deployed a little sooner that we would have liked and the gamble didn’t give us the gains we’d been hoping for. But as a new team, in our learning year, I think it’s important that we try things like this when we can.”
Jaguar travels to Paris this weekend currently ninth in the team standings.
