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Porsche needs to close down Jaguar’s points advantage, but the German manufacturer heads into this weekend’s finale believing that its fate is in its own hands. Dom Romney\/Motorsport Images<\/p>\nWhile Jaguar TCS Racing and TAG Heuer Porsche come into this weekend\u2019s Formula E finale with both of their drivers in contention for the Drivers\u2019 title, both are also in the hunt for the Teams\u2019 and Manufacturers\u2019 championships as well.<\/p>\n
That presents an intriguing scenario for the drivers at both teams, who will need to balance their own personal ambitions with doing the right thing by their employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have the priority, obviously, us drivers in the Drivers\u2019 championship, because we really want that title,\u201d says Porsche\u2019s Pascal Wehrlein. \u201cBut on the other hand, we are employed by our teams, and nothing is bigger than a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
That being said, Jaguar\u2019s Nick Cassidy feels that while the drivers have their own aims, both go hand-in-hand and won\u2019t impact each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, my feeling is that whichever team wins, the drivers will win,\u201d said Cassidy. \u201cIf we do a great job collectively and as a team, I think we’ll win the Drivers\u2019 as well. So let’s see what happens. But that’s kind of my prediction.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a prediction that\u2019s somewhat shared by Cassidy\u2019s boss James Barclay. He\u2019s keen to stress that the team\u2019s priority is the Teams\u2019 championship, both drivers are free to fight one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile both drivers have a mathematical chance, you have to let both of them fight for the championship, and that’s the reality,\u201d said the Jaguar team principal. \u201cBut at the same time, absolutely everyone is here racing for Jaguar TCS Racing. That’s the absolute focus and the priority, but actually supporting both drivers equally. They both stand a chance to win the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a strategy that\u2019s set in stone, though. With this weekend being a double-header, the entire championship complexion could change by Saturday night, with one round still to go. Should that be the case, Barclay says Jaguar would be willing to shift its balance to back one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf something changed on Saturday, we have to adjust that strategy at the same time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s absolutely what we’ll do, and the whole team will kind of rally around what that decision is and take it forward from there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yeah, it’s respectful to both drivers. They both have an opportunity, but if something changes, then our full support will go by and one of them to maximize that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arriving in London at the top of the Teams’ standings, and occupying the top-two spots in the Drivers’ (with second-placed Evans level on points with Wehrlein in third), the brightest spotlights are those on the Jaguar team. The fact that it\u2019s a home event adds an extra layer of pressure, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure is a privilege, as the saying goes,\u201d Barclay said. \u201cI think that home support is going to be something which we’ll really feel this weekend. We have huge amounts of colleagues, partners, media, and all sorts of people attending support the team. So from our point of view, a fantastic, fantastic platform which to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly what sport should be about, right? It’s about big crucibles, big moments, and that’s exactly what this weekend is about. And it gives us something to really be passionate about, and we’re really driven by that. The thought of being able to be successful in front of our home crowd is something which we’re excited by.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Porsche is very much the chaser, the German outfit\u2019s team principal Florian Modlinger insists its destiny is in its own hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we proved and showed that we are competitive on all kind of tracks. Last year we had a bit of a weakness in qualifying, this we sorted out for this year,\u201d he said, alluding to Wehrlein currently having the equal-most number of pole positions this year. \u201cThis means we have it out in our own hands: put it on pole, try to do the win from the front two times.<\/p>\n
Porsche needs to close down Jaguar’s points advantage, but the German manufacturer heads into this weekend’s finale believing that its fate is in its own hands. Dom Romney\/Motorsport Images<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that’s the big message. We have it in our own hands if we perform well here, we do not need luck, we do not need help from others, but we need to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wehrlein agrees, knowing that continuing his strong qualifying run will be key to overhauling the Jaguars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have everything in our own hands, which is great,\u201d he said, echoing his boss\u2019 words.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to start is to qualify at the front, and then have a clean race.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the driver front, it’s Evans that is leading the chase behind Cassidy. And having finished in the top-four for each of the last three seasons, it’s a familiar position for him. But also having been with Jaguar for the entirety of his \u2013 and indeed the team’s \u2013 time in Formula E, team success is also something that matters to him<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I’ve been in this position quite a few times now, so it doesn’t feel too strange,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t prefer to be in Nick\u2019s shoes \u2013 I’m just always the one in contention, but not the one being chased.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think is a huge priority that we want to win this Teams\u2019 (championship),\u201d he added. \u201cThat’s going to be huge for Jaguar. We’ve come so close in the past. We’ve got second last year, second in Season 7, so I feel like this team really deserves that world championship<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think we got to treat it as a normal weekend in a way. Obviously, there’s a lot of weight behind it, and a lot at stake. But, I think we can’t micromanage it too much, just because you can’t in Formula E. It’s really difficult to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for himself, it\u2019s championship or nothing. If his chase proves to come up short, he won\u2019t be disappointed if he slips even further back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really (keeping an eye on those behind), to be honest,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth of us need to be scoring to be able to win this for the team. I think we’ve both got a responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a driver’s point of view, I think if I end up dropping the third or fourth, that doesn’t really bother me too much. I’m here to win. We’re all here to win, and I finished second and third too many times. I\u2019ll definitely be disappointed not to win, but whether it’s second or third doesn’t really bother me too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cassidy has the lead, but many think this could be Evans\u2019 year to finally get the championship monkey off his back. That being said, it\u2019s Antonio Felix da Costa who comes to London as the form man. He\u2019s an outsider, but given he\u2019s won four of the last five races, some in the paddock are tipping him as a dark horse for the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure that\u2019s realistic,\u201d he countered. \u201cI mean, thank you, but this form is not very normal in Formula E and it doesn\u2019t last forever so I\u2019ve already forgotten what we\u2019ve done a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just did my normal preparation for a weekend and I\u2019m just trying to have fun driving the car at the moment. I don\u2019t have a lot of pressure at the moment, a few titles on the line for us this weekend, but I\u2019m just going to do my best and see where I come out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main goal at the moment is the Manufacturers\u2019 and Teams\u2019 championships. There are three guys very very close together, realistically speaking I\u2019m just a little bit too far, but stranger things have happened in the world of motorsport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Jaguar TCS Racing and TAG Heuer Porsche come into this weekend\u2019s Formula E finale with both of their drivers in contention for the Drivers\u2019 title, both are also in the hunt for the Teams\u2019 and Manufacturers\u2019 championships as well. That presents an intriguing scenario for the drivers at both teams, who will need to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","has-thumb","has-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}