Panasonic Jaguar Racing boss James Barclay has admitted his team had a ‘challenging’ day in Berlin as both cars finished outside of the points.
The British team had shown an upturn in form in previous races, scoring points with both cars in the tumultuous Mexican ePrix, and then scoring points again in Monaco and Paris.
However the team’s improved pace seemed to dissipate in Berlin, and although Mitch Evans was able to score a point for fastest lap in the first race after he was forced to stop early for his second car, neither him nor Adam Carroll looked like they had the pace of previous races.
Team Director Barclay was looking at the positives after the race however, saying that had it not been for a gear selection problem he believes that Evans could have finished in the top ten.
“This was a challenging day for Jaguar but there were several positives for the team,” Barclay said.
“We were happy with how we unlocked our qualifying pace. Mitch put together a great lap and recorded our smallest gap to pole position. We were also competitive on energy management and pace, despite such a long race.”
“Unfortunately Mitch lost out on potential points today as his second car had a delay in gear selection in the pit stop.”
Evans himself blamed his lack of pace on set-up, saying that he struggled to get it right having had his running on Saturday limited.
Evans said, “It was a mixed day for me in Berlin. I struggled to find the right set up in practice this morning, having not had as much running as I would have liked yesterday.
“I was pleased to set a strong qualifying lap when it counted. I put my Jaguar I-TYPE in P9 and in contention for a fifth consecutive points scoring finish.
“When I pitted for the car swaps, my second car was in neutral and this delayed my exit, so I re-joined behind Adam. We pushed for the maximum from there and gained another position.”
Jaguar’s poor showing in Berlin saw them drop a place in the team’s standings, with Venturi pushing them down into ninth place.
Driver’s Championship
[table id=2097 /]
Team’s Championship
[table id=2098 /]
