After severe wet weather conditions forced a race start behind the safety car following a 90-minute delay, Cassidy’s pace in the Jaguar I-TYPE 7 #37 when racing began properly on lap eight – backed up by perfect team strategy – meant he was never headed and crossed the line more than seven seconds in front of the field.
Taking an early two-minute Attack Mode on lap eight enabled Nick to build a comfortable lead ahead of Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, the Porsche driver not able to close on Nick despite taking a four-minute attack mode at the same time. Nick continued to simply drive away from the field in his Jaguar I-TYPE 7 which was also comfortably up on energy, and after taking his final six-minute Attack Mode on lap 22, Cassidy was never threatened.
Starting from P13 on the grid, Mitch Evans fought hard throughout the race but was unable to move forward into the points, finishing the race in P14.
James Barclay, Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal: “I'm so proud of the team, this is a huge result for everyone’s hard work and commitment. This season we’ve felt we’ve had the potential for some really great results, but they haven't come our way through no fault of our own at times. Even yesterday Nick was taken out when looking very strong, the same thing happened to Mitch in Tokyo, and there have been several other races where we deserved more.”
“But the team have dug deep and continued to work incredibly hard, so they really deserve this result. We know the Jaguar I-TYPE 7 has fundamental pace, and today we’ve finally been able to capitalise on that with Nick’s result. He was peerless today and has had pace in all conditions across the weekend as well. A clean sweep, fastest in FP3, pole position and untouchable in the race today – a race that he and the team executed perfectly from a strategic point of view as well. That’s no mean feat in the conditions we had.
“I feel for Mitch. With the grid penalties he had to take yesterday, this weekend was always going to be tough for him – and today we couldn’t find the balance in the car he needed. In wet conditions feel is everything for a driver, and Mitch just wasn’t able to get the grip and confidence from the car he needed. But he fought hard, and as a team we’ll do the same to ensure we work on this ahead of the next round in Jakarta.”
Jaguar TCS Racing driver Nick Cassidy, #37: Jaguar TCS Racing driver Nick Cassidy, #37: “Winning today in Shanghai is an incredibly proud moment for me. We have been pushing for a result like this behind the scenes and today is all down to our dedication to unlock the pace we needed and knew we were capable of.
“To be as strong as we have been across this weekend gave us the confidence to make the right decisions on our approach coming into this race - which set me up for the pace and performance we had on track. Big thanks to my team who have been by my side all season and keep showing up for me. We had the best car out there today, and with executing the strategies we had planned from the outset, we’ve proved we deserve to fight at the front.”
Jaguar TCS Racing driver Mitch Evans, #9: “With the penalties yesterday, and not being able to get the balance in the car I needed today - it’s been a hugely frustrating race weekend. Sometimes they go like that, so all we can do is look forward. Today was a great result for Nick and the team though - so we’ve shown the performance is there, we just need to put it together consistently now.”
Round 12 of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will take place in Jakarta on Saturday, 21 June.
