Jaguar TCS Racing have stood on the podium at all four rounds this year – the only team to do so. They are also at the top of all the standings including the Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championships and the newly-announced Manufacturers' Trophy.
New signing for Season 10, Nick Cassidy, has been a huge part of that progress, leading the team to three podiums – including a win – over the first three races of the year. It’s been a dream start for the Kiwi, but the impressive tally came to an abrupt end in Brazil.
Cassidy didn’t make it into the qualifying Duels for the first time in seven races, and lined up ninth on the starting grid. Being in the middle of the pack, and the 2.93km street circuit providing plenty of places for some argy-bargy, the Jaguar driver sustained some damage to his front wing early on in the race.
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Deciding to stay out, the front wing ended up causing an accident for Cassidy which ultimately forced him to retire from the race.
“I had a really fast car in FP1, FP2 and the first run of qualifying today, but the race didn’t go quite how I wanted or expected it to,” the six-time Formula E race winner said after the chequered flag. “I had a couple of touches with the front wing and unfortunately it was too badly damaged.”
The #37 car was sixth at the time but the damage brought his race to a premature end on Lap 16 in dramatic fashion.
“I still think I was one of the fastest cars this weekend, plus, I have come off the back of four podiums in a row and I’m still leading the Drivers’ Championship standings so there’s a lot of positives to take forward to Tokyo.”
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Cassidy did state after his win in Diriyah that he was “waiting for a bad day”, and it appears that it might have found its way to him. He’ll be hoping that things get better for him in Tokyo, as it’s not only the team’s 100th race in Formula E but Japan is a country Nick holds close to his heart.
The 29-year-old previously branched out into Japanese motorsport with dual driving duties in the Super Formula and Super GT championships. Driving for the legendary TOM'S racing outfit, Cassidy continued his rise in Japan taking the Super GT title in 2017, following this with Drivers' Championship honours in the 2019 Super Formula season.
On the other side of the garage, Mitch Evans came very close to his first win of the season but with an overheating car on the final lap was overtaken by NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird in spectacular fashion. It was Evans’ first piece of silverware this season, and pushes him up into third in the Drivers’ World Championship.