Panasonic Jaguar Racing has today announced that the inaugural FIA Formula E champion - Nelson Piquet Jr. - will join Mitch Evans for their second season in the FIA Formula E Championship, with Ho-Pin Tung remaining as the official reserve driver.
Following on from a difficult couple of seasons since being crowned champion, Piquet has left the NIO Formula E Team to drive for one of Formula E’s newest manufacturers. Evans has been retained by the team for a second season after an impressive debut in the electric street racing series, in which he secured the team’s best points-scoring finish at the Julius Baer Mexico City E-Prix, finishing just outside of the podium in fourth.
The team will hit the track in their season two challenger, the Jaguar I-TYPE 2, along with the nine other Formula E teams at the official pre-season test in Valencia this October, before season four gets underway in Hong Kong on December 2 & 3.
Piquet, said: “It’s a great honour to join Panasonic Jaguar Racing. Jaguar has such a strong history in motorsport and it’s an exciting time to become part of the team. Their commitment to electric motorsport is inspiring and I’m looking forward to working with the team.”
Evans, added: “After such a great season it's fantastic to be continuing with Panasonic Jaguar Racing in season four. As a team, we are moving in the right direction, and I can't wait for the kick-off in Hong Kong.”
James Barclay, Team Director of Panasonic Jaguar Racing, said: “We are hugely excited to have Nelson on board for season four. Mitch was one of the outstanding rookies of the season with some great qualifying and race performances. With our new driver line-up we are aiming to be a strong challenger on the grid, regularly competing for points. We have taken a lot of learnings from season three and the team have been working extremely hard throughout the off-season, focusing on the design and development of the new Jaguar I-TYPE 2.”