Jaguar is "returning to motor racing with the entry of a team into the Formula E electric car championship," according to Alan Tovey of the London TELEGRAPH. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover will produce single-seat cars for the race series, "which it aims to use as test-beds for new battery and power train technologies." Announcing its return to the racetrack, the company said that "it sees the move as paving the way for electric and hybrid Jaguars and Land Rovers appearing on the roads in the future," pledging to make "a portfolio of electric vehicles" with the first expected to appear in '17. JLR Engineering Dir Nick Rogers said, "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." JLR has partnered with Williams Advanced Engineering to "provide technical and motorsport knowledge for the team." JLR and Williams have worked together in the past on advanced propulsion systems, "including the Jaguar C-X75 plug-in hybrid concept car which appeared in the latest James Bond film, and which the new racing car will borrow technology from" (TELEGRAPH, 12/15). REUTERS' Alan Baldwin reported Rogers said, "We believe electrification is the future." Williams CEO Mike O'Driscoll is a former managing director of Jaguar, "leading the company through the sale to Tata Motors" in '08. The decision to enter Formula E, "facilitated by the Italian Trulli team already giving up one of the 10 slots, will be Jaguar's biggest motorsport involvement since the then Ford-owned brand departed Formula One" at the end of '04. Rogers said that the latest foray, which will start when Formula E enters its third season in the latter part of the year, was "all about the technology development" rather than simply winning races (REUTERS, 12/15).
NO TRULLI IN FORMULA E: MOTORSPORT reported the Trulli Formula E team "has officially withdrawn from the championship with immediate effect." The team run by former F1 driver Jarno Trulli will "cease to exist after missing the first two races of the season." The technical issues that forced the team to miss the Chinese and Malaysian rounds "have now led to the squad relinquishing its entry in the championship." This means "only 18 cars will be on the grid next week in Punta del Este" (MOTORSPORT, 12/15).
