Driving around the historic Les Invalides complex, the Paris ePrix was a stop-start race. A number of incidents caused safety cars and periods of full course yellow flags, challenging the Jaguar team to adapt their race strategy and react to the events on track.
Mitch Evans started the race in eighth and also entered the pits being eighth, but due to a small issue on his second car, re-joined the action out of position. He fought back through the remaining laps to achieve a final classification of P9, his third consecutive points finish in his rookie season.
“The race was challenging for all the drivers today. The circuit is very tricky, but I really got to grips with it as the day went on. The team made the right decision to pit under the full course yellow but we had a small issue that lost me some time in exiting the garage and we’ll look into that after the race. Ultimately, I am really happy to score points for the third race in a row and I am determined to continue to learn and race hard in the second half of the season”, summarised Evans.
Adam Carroll lined up 19th on the grid. The strategy of pitting early, when a competitor collision on lap 16 lap triggered a full course yellow flag, promoted Carroll to P15 when he returned to racing. But he was given a drive-through penalty for completing his pit stop less than one second under the minimum time. The 34-year-old finished in P15.
“It’s been a tough day for me. This is the nature of such a competitive championship as Formula E and I’m going to work really hard to come back stronger in the second half of the season. I was unlucky with the penalty, but we accept that and look forward to the next two races in Berlin”, said Carroll.
Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director James Barclay summed events up: “This is a very tricky circuit and a new one for the Jaguar team, but we brought both cars home and came away with a deserved result. We had a bit of misfortune during the pit stops today. Adam was given a drive-through penalty and Mitch had an issue with his second car, which cost him some time. We will investigate both of these issues.”
After Evans has repeatedly scored points, the British team leaped to eighth in the team standings at the halfway point of their debut season, with just six FIA Formula E races remaining. Panasonic Jaguar Racing now takes off for Germany, for the final race of the European leg and the first of three consecutive double-header races. The Berlin ePrix takes place on June 10 and 11 at the former Tempelhof Airport.
