Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans are confident that Jaguar TCS Racing “can definitely handle” being the title favourites, ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Mexico City E-Prix.
Formula E is finally back this weekend for the championship’s 10th season, with the factory Jaguar outfit being the team to beat in most people’s eyes. It’s easy to see why the Coventry-based side are viewed as the favourites for the Constructors’ Championship, as they were consistently the best team in Season 9.
On top of this, the addition of Cassidy means Jaguar now have a driver line-up consisting of the duo who claimed second and third last season and won eight of the 16 races between them. If the two Kiwis win the same number of races in 2024, then they could claim the title by some margin.
Even before the season-opener, Evans and Cassidy have already demonstrated immense pace, as they ended last October’s pre-season test in first and third on the timesheets, respectively. However, testing is one thing, putting their exceptional package to use in an E-Prix is another.
Mexico City wasn’t a good venue for the factory Jaguar team last season, as Evans had to settle for eighth, whilst Sam Bird failed to finish. Cassidy also didn’t perform miracles in the Mexican capital for Envision Racing, as he could only salvage ninth.
Porsche’s powertrain had a clear advantage in Mexico City last season, with it set to be fascinating to discover if they’ll have the same margin this weekend. Even if Porsche do out-perform Jaguar this weekend, it’s the British manufacturer who are favoured to claim victories on a more regular basis.
Season 10 is really the first time that Jaguar has entered a campaign as the favourites for both championships, a label that Evans is expecting the team to thrive on. He doesn’t expect the ‘favourites’ label to disrupt Jaguar at all, with him “not feeling too anxious” currently.
“I guess every season comes with pressure, comes with expectation,” Evans said during a roundtable with select media, following a question by Motorsport Week. “I think us, the team, we’ve kind of been one of the favourites for a few seasons now, so I don’t think it’s anything new or unusual.
“So I think it’s pressure that we can definitely handle and cope with and I think it’s a nice feeling to know that we’re recognised as one of the favourites as well and it’s to be expected. Obviously, we ended the season really well last year, so it’s only normal that we’re going to have a bit of a target or just a lot of expectation, but I think there’s a few other teams as well that will share that pressure.
“Obviously, with, I think, the Porsche team and their customer team, Andretti, they were extremely strong last year. I think they were still probably stronger than us generally, with their package.
“So they’re going to be wanting to, obviously, in Andretti’s case, back up what they did last year with Jake and how they definitely started off really strongly, but obviously they didn’t have such a strong end of the year, so they’ll be wanting to change that. So I don’t think we’re alone, but we’re definitely, obviously in that mix at the front and I think that’s just normal off the back of the season we had so nothing unusual.
“I think, obviously, Nick and I, from the driver’s side, we’ve got a lot of expectation on us as well. But again, I think that’s a great feeling to have. And I go into Mexico not really putting too much pressure on it. We started not great last year and we still managed to have a really strong year. So it’s not everything’s based off this one race.
“You kind of just want to start strongly, build some good foundations for the year ahead. But, yeah, not feeling too anxious or anything for the moment.”
Cassidy echoed his team-mate’s thoughts on Jaguar being favourites but went a step further in stressing that Porsche have a better package. The Season 9 Vice-Champion believes the German manufacturer are stronger in “more than 50 per cent of the areas” but that they do their talking “elsewhere”.
In general, the new factory Jaguar driver, like Evans, feels a “bit more relaxed” ahead of Season 10 and no longer feels like he has “something to prove”.
“I think it’s a great feeling, in a way. I think it’s true that Porsche especially, have to be honest, a better car than us in probably more than 50 per cent of the areas, especially in the race,” Cassidy admitted.
“I think that’s the reference. They do a good job of putting that talk elsewhere. But at the end of the day, I think being called a favourite or being spoken about like that gives me a lot of confidence. Certainly at the end of my second year in Formula E, I felt like I had something to prove. I don’t have that feeling anymore.
“I feel a bit more relaxed and so it’s a nice feeling to have going into a new season.”
