Jaguar roars again in Berlin ePrix 

After a demanding weekend in Jakarta in mid-June, where we came away with a sixth-place finish courtesy of Nick Cassidy, our return to Europe three weeks later garnered a remarkable double victory in Berlin. Nick and team-mate Mitch Evans scored a win apiece in one of the most memorable weekends in our Formula E history. It was a result that thrust us into the battle for third position in the teams’ standings and also evidenced the potential in the Jaguar I-Type 7 and fighting spirit we’ve had from everyone all season.

Jaguar TCS Racing has been gaining incredible momentum as the year has gone on and it bodes well for the final Gen3 rules set season in 2026.

We had two very different races in Berlin at the quirky Tempelhof airport circuit. In race one, Mitch was in fantastic form. He led the race from the front and although it was easy to make a mistake in the challenging, wet conditions he didn’t put a foot wrong. It was especially satisfying for Mitch because he’s had some desperate luck this season, so his second win was a deserved reward.

There were then more treacherous conditions as we prepped for the second race of the Berlin double-header. It was a gamble for qualifying on whether drivers went on to a full dry setting or a wet setting and, in truth, we got it wrong with a wet setting. That was because the track dried and those who gambled with the dry set-up were in the box seats. It meant Nick was right at the back of the grid, but we knew all was not lost. We have an amazingly talented group of people and a fantastic team culture. Instead of being glum, they said, “Let’s enjoy the challenge.”

Mitch was fighting in the lead group at the start but the Porsches really stretched the pace and many just fell away with too much energy spent. But Mitch was able to stay at a decent pace and came home a strong fifth.

For Nick it played out to be one of his famed masterclass pack-racing executions. Nick and his car crew were absolutely on point with their strategy and his back-to-front victory meant it was three years in a row that he’s won at Tempelhof. It was a phenomenal win for Nick, his second in four races, which thrust him into fifth position in the drivers’ standings and with the realistic possibility of finishing in the top three.

“For Nick it played out to be one of his famed masterclass executions”

By the time you read this, the London ePrix season-finale races will have come and gone. I will also have worked my final day at JLR Motorsport. My brief was to bring Jaguar back to racing. As one of the originators of the Formula E project, which returned the brand to global competition after more than a decade away, I leave with the satisfaction that we brought contemporary world championship-winning success back to Jaguar.

In 2013 when I joined and started to work on that feasibility around a Jaguar motor sport programme, there was a racing desire from certain members of the board here, but it needed direction and work to make it a reality. JLR had just launched its F-type, and this car was an interesting option for us to go into racing as there was talk of convergence rules with GT and GT3, which had appeal.

While that idea broke down we had always been keeping an eye on Formula E, which was only just starting up. We knew that the Jaguar I-Pace was coming, and we had to tell the world that we could make an EV. When Gerd Mäuser joined the business as chief marketing officer in 2015, things really gained momentum because he totally understood the power of racing and saw the work that I’d been doing.

By the end of 2015 we were in a position to acquire a licence in Formula E – and Jaguar was back in global motor sport.

We have shown that racing is not just about having a brand name on the car to deliver ROI. We give real brand value for our customers through race-to-road technology transfer – very much a part of Jaguar’s DNA.

That race-to-road story is vitally important through Formula E because it is a real-world testbed for electric vehicle technology. There are many examples of components and new technology we’ve developed through racing which transferred to Jaguar’s previous road cars – and the hardware and software we are proving on-track right now will transfer to Jaguar all-electric vehicles.

But in my mind, the most important job we do is to motivate and inspire the employees throughout JLR. We have over 40,000 employees and, when you walk up and down Gaydon, EPMC, Solihull and Halewood, and you see our employees wearing Jaguar TCS Racing team kit, it is humbling.

The fact they’re watching us on a weekend with their families is not just about supporting the company, it also means that Formula E is really making an impact.

It has been a decade of privilege to lead Jaguar back into a successful global motor sport programme. I know that the team will go on to achieve more success, and personally I couldn’t ask for anything better as I say farewell to a legendary manufacturer and many great colleagues.