15/12/2015
NEWS STORY
Jaguar today announced its return to global motorsport. In the autumn of 2016, it will enter the third season of the Formula E Championship as a manufacturer with its own team.
"I am proud to announce Jaguar's return to racing with an entry into the innovative Formula E championship," said Nick Rogers, Group Engineering Director for Jaguar Land Rover. "Electric vehicles will absolutely play a role in Jaguar Land Rover's future product portfolio and Formula E will give us a unique opportunity to further our development of electrification technologies. The Championship will enable us to engineer and test our advanced technologies under extreme performance conditions.
"It is my belief that over the next five years we will see more changes in the automotive world than in the last three decades. The future is about being more connected and more sustainable; electrification and lightweight technologies are becoming more important than ever as urbanisation continues to increase. Formula E has recognised and reacted to these trends and the championship's exciting and pioneering approach is the perfect fit for our brand."
Jaguar Land Rover employs over 8,000 engineers and is the UK's largest investor in research and development across any business sector. Its Formula E team will be able to draw upon this industry leading resource with Jaguar Land Rover engineers working closely with the race operations team.
Those engineers will not only be able to apply their knowledge within the race team environment but crucially use the experience to extract data and push the boundaries of electric technology in a performance environment.
Williams Advanced Engineering will be technical partner to the Jaguar Formula E Team and provide extensive motorsport knowledge, combined with high performance EV Systems experience and success. Jaguar Land Rover has a long term relationship with Williams, who partnered with Jaguar on the development of the Jaguar C-X75 plug-in hybrid concept car. The team entry has been granted by Formula E and approved by the FIA.
"We are delighted to welcome Jaguar into Formula E," said Alejandro Agag, Chief Executive Officer for Formula E. "Jaguar is a brand with a rich sporting heritage and the fact that it is returning to global motorsport with Formula E is a huge endorsement of the championship and its ability to influence the development of electric cars. Jaguar brings with it a passionate fan base that will drive the popularity of the championship across the world and once again shows that Formula E is the future of motorsport."
"We built this series to offer an alternative competition for manufacturers to step into the sport and develop road-relevant electric technologies," added FIA president, Jean Todt. "The choice of Jaguar to come back to motor racing with Formula E is a proof of success. As it forges a path forward for the future of the electric car, Formula E managed to attract one of the most prestigious and historical brand across the automotive industry. I wish them success ahead of their arrival in 2016/2017."
"We looked in detail at alternative ways of returning to motorsport," admitted James Barclay, Jaguar Team Director. "This was such an important decision for Jaguar and we wanted to get it right. With our future EV plans, Formula E was the obvious choice and we believe that the benefits are enormous. The FIA and the promoter have exciting plans for the future of the championship and we are proud to be one of the first vehicle manufacturers to commit to the series with our own team. We have a lot of work to do ahead of the first race but it is a challenge we relish. We hope that we can welcome a new generation of fans to Jaguar through this exciting programme."
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As well as its success in Sports Cars, Jaguar contested the Formula One World Championship between 2000 and 2004, parent company Ford having bought the Stewart Grand Prix team. Over the course of those five seasons the team enjoyed little success, its best results being a brace of thirds (Monaco 2001 and Italy 2002).
In late 2004 it was revealed that Red Bull had bought the Milton Keynes outfit, the rest, as they say, being history.