Jaguar’s James Barclay: Sam Bird “back on the form we know he is capable of”

Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal James Barclay hailed Sam Bird as being ‘back on form’, after claiming the team’s first podium of the season at the Diriyah E-Prix and his first since the Season Seven New York E-Prix.

Bird was electrifying in the second and third rounds of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship at the Riyadh Street Circuit, with his third-place finish having come in the first race in Diriyah. The second race was slightly more frustrating for the British driver, who had the pace to claim at least a podium if not challenge for victory, had a late Safety Car not ruined his chances. Bird had to settle for fourth at the second race as a result.

For Mitch Evans, it was an incredibly frustrating weekend, with the New Zealander having not been rewarded for his strong pace. Evans finished tenth in the opening race in Diriyah following a bizarre five-second time penalty, whilst he finished seventh in the second race after pushing Jake Hughes across the line. Evans did lead the early stages of the second race of the weekend, but tumbled down the order as a result of the incredible Porsche powertrains and a questionable strategy.

Had it not been for Evans’ “unfortunate circumstances” then he could’ve challenged the top five places in both races, rather than the lower-end of the points. Barclay admits himself that Evans’ results weren’t a “fair reflection” of his performance, with the team having “some things to improve on” as a result.

“Firstly well done to Sam on a great weekend, he is back on the form we know he is capable of. A podium yesterday, fourth today and the fastest lap shows his talent but also the pace and efficiency of the Jaguar I-TYPE 6. Mitch demonstrated he is getting to grips with the Gen3 car with fantastic Practice and Qualifying sessions. Together we had high expectations for the race but leading the pack isn’t always the best place to be in Diriyah and towing the rest of the field around cost us energy which meant we had to drop back to try and regain.

“The result wasn’t a fair reflection of Mitch and our car’s pace and getting caught behind the McLaren running out of energy in the last two corners was the last of a series of unfortunate circumstances. We learn on the harder days and today we have some things to improve on and homework to take away. We know we have strong pace, a fast race car and great efficiency and we aim to build on this for Hyderabad.”