Silverware, champagne and celebrations filled 2026 for the Formula E world champions Jaguar TCS team as it prepares to put its title on the line when the new season begins next month.
The lights go out on the new all-electric racing car series in Saudi Arabia on 18 December and with it comes a new generation of the biggest, fastest cars the sport has ever seen.
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Last season the Kidlington-based team saw off its nearest challengers Porsche by 17 points for its second teams’ world championship win.
“It is high time we get racing again, the team is champing at the bit”, said Jaguar team principal Ian James.
Around 150 staff work at the Jaguar’s state of the art Oxfordshire headquarters working in design, operations and development.
The team relocated there in 2023.
“To secure those two teams’ world championships is testament to the quality and calibre of the staff we’ve got there”, said James.
“They are never to rest on their laurels, they want to push things forward. Gen 4 gives us exactly the opportunity to do that”, he added.
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“There have been some incredibly long hours put in. It is a huge challenge”, acknowledged James.
The new Gen 4 Formula E cars could be 5 seconds a lap faster than last season as the car’s power has increased from 350kW to 600kW.
“I think it is a game changer. Formula E has had some of the most exciting racing in the world in the last few years”, said James.
Some of technology first used on-track has previously been incorporated by Jaguar into their road cars.
“We are constantly working between the engineers on the race programme and the engineers on the road cars side, just to see what synergy we can leverage,” James added.
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While the development of cutting edge engineering in Oxfordshire has commercial benefits, the motivation for James remains race wins against their rivals.
Jaguar’s latest addition to their trophy cabinet came in the final event of last season at the London E-Prix.
“It always goes down to the wire. That was exactly the same in London. We could have been heroes or zeros in that final race.
“I love nothing more than being covered in champagne. What I’ve loved about Formula E throughout is that you can take nothing for granted”.
A new driver has been recruited ahead of the opening race in Jeddah with the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne joining António Félix da Costa.
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Vandoorne previously drove for McLaren in Formula One alongside Fernando Alonso and is the test and reserve driver for the Aston Martin Formula One team.
He won the Formula E drivers’ title with Mercedes in 2022.
“From a competitive landscape perspective it is going to get tougher and tougher”, said James.
“It is great to go out racing, it is great to see those battles on-track. So we will take it race by race and make sure we can get those results in as early as possible.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
