Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director James Barclay said that his team should be proud of the progress they are making after a markedly improved performance in Buenos Aires.
Jaguar’s return to competitive motorsport had been underwhelming thus far, with the team languishing towards the back of the field in the first two races.
But Mitch Evans was able to get their first top ten slot in qualifying after putting in the seventh fastest time.
Although Evans fell back to thirteenth during the race after a difficult second stint, Barclay is convinced that the team is moving in the right direction.
“This was our best qualifying result this season. A really great job by everyone in the team for making positive steps forward since our last race in Marrakesh in November,” he said.
“Things have truly come together and Mitch did really well managing to run with the front pack.
“The team should be really proud of what we have achieved today as we moved the performance forward and bridged the gap to the other teams. We have achieved a lot in only three races.”
Evans himself said he was disappointed to miss out on points, but said that the weekend was a confidence boost for the team going forward.
He commented, “I was looking forward to holding my position in the second stint, but unfortunately I was struggling to manage the energy for some reason and couldn’t push as hard as before.
“I dropped four places and ended up just out of the points. It was really disappointing not to come away with our first points but it just wasn’t meant to be this time.
“I’m really looking forward to Mexico and this weekend has been a really good motivator for the whole team and a good confidence builder. We will build on that and keep improving as a team.”
It wasn’t as an encouraging day for Adam Carroll. He didn’t manage to match the pace of his team-mate in qualifying and ended up down in fifteenth.
He then failed to start his car on the grid, meaning he began his race a lap down.
“Today was tough,” Carroll said. “The start of the day was promising, we just lost our way a little bit in the second practice as we wanted to keep the car safe for qualifying and not risk anything.
“I obviously hoped to be a lot faster than I was, but I can improve on that.
“I’d hoped to have a strong race and come through but I had an issue with the start, right when I was about to take off I couldn’t launch the car. We’re not sure why and it’s something that the engineers are looking into now.”
Jaguar remain rooted to the bottom of the championship as the only team who have not yet managed to score points.
