Jaguar Returns To Global Motorsport

Jaguar Returns To Racing With Williams In The All-Electric Formula E Championship

Jaguar has a long history of making some of the most desirable cars in the world and a whole lot of that history also involves some very accomplished motorsport experience. In the 1950s, Jaguar won at Le Mans five times and then did it again in 1988 and 90. They tried their hand at Formula 1 as well before then-owner Ford sold the F1 outfit to Red Bull in 2004. 2007 marked a complete change of ownership for Jaguar to become the jewel in Ratan Tata’s crown as the marquee began a resurrection under its Indian owners. Come 2016, and Jaguar will be back on the Motorsport grid but this time, things are a little different – electrifying even!

Nick Rogers, Group Engineering Director for Jaguar Land Rover, said: “I am proud to announce Jaguar's return to racing with an entry into the innovative FIA Formula E Championship. 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. Formula E has recognised and reacted to these trends and the championship's exciting and pioneering approach is the perfect fit for our brand."

The future of automobiles is clearly hinting towards going electric in some form or the other and the epitome of this phenomenon has to be the Formula E Championship which is currently running its third full season with quite a good reception from the fans. It is this future that Jaguar is looking at exploiting and it does make quite a bit of sense too. A few years ago, Jaguar partnered with Williams F1 to come up with the ground-breaking C-X75 hybrid concept hypercar and this alliance will continue with Formula E as Williams joins in as Technical Partner to the Leaping Cat, assisting with their immense expertise in motorsport. With this move, Jaguar is all set to mark its return to open-wheel racing as a manufacturer with its own team.

Jaguar returns to racing with 2016 FIA Formula E Chanpionship — Jaguar’s livery for the SRT_01E racecar to be seen in the 2016 FIA Formula E Championship.

While Jaguar has been providing the XKR GT3 and GT2 to privateers for various lower rung events, its decision to enter Formula E represents a massive leap of confidence in the electric racing series. The experience and data gained through Formula E will in turn give the British manufacturers engineers an extra edge in making high-performance electric road cars as well and that’s a future that Jaguar has been hinting at for long. It may have started with the C-X75 but the biggest stamp of approval for the technology in the real world is rumoured to be coming in with the Jaguar E-Pace electric crossover that little birdies have been chirping about recently.

Jaguar recently displayed a new battery propulsion technology as well and with Williams being the driving force behind the battery system for the SRT_01E – the current Formula E racecar for all the teams in the Championship, this alliance has the capabilty to revolutionise electric vehicle technology. Jaguar’s entry into Formula E has already been granted by the series and approved by the FIA which means, the Championship will be back up to a 20-car grid for 2016. It won’t be long before a number of other manufacturers start showing interest and join the likes of Jaguar, Audi, Renault, Citroen and Mahindra on the Formula E grid.