Panasonic Jaguar Racing has presented the concept
livery for the I-Type 3 racer, which aims for the crown of the Formula E
Championship’s season five that starts later this year. It’s a Gen 2 car that
benefits from a maximum power of up to 340 PS available during
qualifying and 272 PS during the race. But more importantly, it
uses improved batteries that allow the teams to move to one race car per
driver, thus dropping the car-swapping technique.
One of the people in charge with driving the Jaguar
I-Type 3 racer, Nelson Piquet Jr, is excited about it, after getting the chance
to see what it’s like in a test event last month. “It was a big moment for the
team, the champion and for electric vehicles. The car made a promising,
reliable start, but there is a lot of development to do before we start racing
at the end of this year”, said Piquet Jr.
For the moment, the son of three-time F1 world
champion Nelson Piquet, who was also an F1 driver and winner of the Formula E
championship in 2015, has his eyes on the event in Rome, Italy, this Saturday,
where the new Audi e-Tron Vision Gran Turismo will debut as race taxi. “Now my
focus turns to Rome. I love new tracks and am up for the challenge”, he added.
The electric racing series is seen as a necessary
asset by many big names within the automotive industry. Jaguar Land Rover, just
like its rivals, will “take learnings from Formula E and directly transfer them
from race to road to help shape future electric vehicles”, according to James
Barclay, Team Director Panasonic Jaguar Racing. “In parallel, we remain very
focused on this season, and continuing the positive progress we are making as a
team.”
