Jaguar has announced its return to competitive racing after more than a decade and the motorsport endeavour will start with Formula E 2016. With Panasonic as its main sponsor, Jaguar has built their first Formula E car, the I-type 1. While Jaguar would have loved to call it the E-type, the legend around the moniker must have forced them to choose I.
Slated to make its racing debut next month in Hong Kong at the opening race of the 2016 season, Jaguar expects to take the fight to its competitors that include Audi, McLaren and Mahindra. The car made its first public appearance during the testing session at Donington Park where all three team drivers spent a day testing the brand new I-type 1.
Nick Rogers, executive director of product engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, said that though Formula E components hardly make their way to production cars, learnings from the racing endeavours will certainly be applied to optimise energy consumption of the electric road cars. With Jaguar planning to introduce its first electric crossover by 2018, the Formula E campaign with the I-type will certainly play a pivotal role in its development.
