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SA’s Barclay leads Jaguar
to Formula E team title
Jaguar TCS took the Team and Manufacturers titles, while a driver of Mauritian descent became world champion, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.
South Africa’s James Barclay, team principal of Jaguar TCS Racing, made history this weekend after leading Jaguar to the Formula E team title. At the same time, Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein became the first driver of Mauritian descent to win an FIA World Championship.
After a strong season, Jaguar claimed the Formula E Team’s Championship after a tense final race in London on Sunday, when the team narrowly missed out on the Driver’s Championship.
Long-time championship leader Nick Cassidy was forced to retire from the season finale after he suffered a puncture towards the end and Mitch Evans could not convert his strong performance into a win. As a result, Evans and Cassidy finished the season in second and third respectively.
The Jaguar TCS team entered the final race weekend ahead of TAG Heuer Porsche in second and finished the campaign with a massive margin of 36 points as Season 10 concluded. Jaguar also won the Manufacturers trophy, by a mere 4 points – but only after points were recalculated when Nissan’s Antonio Felix da Costa was penalised for causing the puncture, through car contact, that ruled Cassidy out of the final race.
James Barclay, Jaguar TCS Racing team principal, with the team trophy, alongside his drivers, Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy who finished second and third respectively in the Drivers’ World Championship
Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein claimed the Driver’s Championship after finishing the race second, behind Oliver Rowland of Nissan, leaving him five points ahead of Evans in the final standings. This marks the half-Mauritian driver’s first Formula E World Championship and makes him the first driver of Mauritian descent to claim an FIA World Championship.
Flying the SA flag
Barclay, who become the first South African team principal to guide a team to a Formula E World Championship, led the team’s entry into Formula E in 2016.
Since then, Jaguar has claimed 44 podiums, including 16 wins. Season 10 has been a record-breaker, as Cassidy and Evans have combined for 13 climbs to the podium, of which four were wins.
“To win the 2024 ABB FIA Formula E Teams’ World Championship – the pinnacle of electric racing – is fitting reward for everyone’s hard work and winning mindset,” said Barclay after the race. “I feel for both Mitch and Nick – coming so close to the Drivers’ crown is tough for both of them – but they have driven incredibly well all year and I know they will be fighting for the title again next year.”
James Barclay, Jaguar TCS Racing team principal, celebrates his championship
Barclay grew up near the Kyalami racetrack and matriculated at Pretoria Boys High.
Last year, during the 2023 Formula E world championship, his team competed in the Cape Town E-prix, and we had the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of Evan’s car.
This provided a sense of the massive amount of controls facing the driver. The steering wheel alone contains 15 different controls, buttons and levers. Each of three levers, in turn, has around 10 separate controls. This highlighted the fact that Formula E needs both the driving skills of an F1 racer and the video game-level skills of a champion gamer.
Barclay agreed, pointing out that the driver engages with every one of those controls during a race.
“They need to have the ability to go very, very quickly. But they need to have huge capacity in terms of processing information, and there’s not many people that can do all of that. You got a really good indication there (in the cockpit): they are changing regeneration settings, they are changing braking settings, there are lots of things that allow us during the race to optimise performance over the full race distance, and they’re obviously talking to their engineers and on the radio a lot.
Jaguar TCS Racing leading the 2024 ABB FIA Formula E Teams’ World Championship
“That’s why it’s incredibly complex. We don’t have ‘ship-to-shore controls’ like you have in Formula 1 where sometimes the engineers can make a change while the driver’s driving around and not know what’s happening in the background. Here the driver has to make the changes.
“You’re recruiting good drivers or good video game players. Joking aside, time playing on the simulator as a youngster, and then turning up in racing, you see the difference between the generations. That’s probably why some who’ve come from Formula 1 struggle, because they just can’t process, because they’re just used to driving.”
* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on social media on @art2gee.
