Jaguar

**Jaguar Racing** was the works team of British manufacturer Jaguar in Formula International. Having debuted in what was Formula E back in 2017, Jaguar was on the team list in the new Formula International during the change in the motorsport ladder and started well, narrowly missing the drivers title with Freyr Vigfusson finishing 2nd. However, in the following years, the team would start falling slowly the pecking order, as they had a barren run in the midfield, scoring just 1 podium in the following years, and in 2027, they fell down to the backmarker group, as financial problems started to appear. In 2029, after finishing last with no points, the only team to do so in that year, Jaguar announced that they would shut down the team and sell the assets. The remaining assets were sold to Saudi Arabian king Mohammed bin Salman, who formed the succesful Saudia team.

## Origins and Formula E History

Jaguar, as a works team, had seen success in various forms of racing, most notably winning various Le Mans races, with the most known wins being in 1955, although that one was controversial due to Mike Hawthorn's involvement in the Le Mans Disaster that took place in the same race, and in 1990 with the naturally aspirated XJR-9 beating the turborcharged opposition. The XJR line also won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1990 and 1991. In 200, the manufacturer made their F1 debut as Ford's works team following the takeover of the succesful Stewart team, but the team failed to perform consistently outside of some podiums and good qualifying sections and in 2004, they announced that they would shut down the team. The remaining assets were sold to Red Bull, who created their highly succesful works team. In 2017, Jaguar returned to single seaters, this time to Formula E, where they started of slowly but in 2019 they enjoyed a succesful year with the team's star Mitch Evans scoring the team's only win in 2019.

## 2020: Challenging for the driver's title

Following the change in the motorsport ladder, Jaguar decided to do a major overhaul and like every team, they signed two new prospects, Icelander Freyr Vigfusson and Croatian Andelko Peric. The new regulations saw Jaguar being on the top of the pace charts in pre-season and in the season, Vigfusson proved to be a title contender by starting with 3 podiums in his first 4 races and would later score 2 wins and finish second in the standings behind champion Ivan Marincic. However, the team finished only fourth in the team standings as Peric scored only 8 points and only 20th on the standings.

## 2021-2026: Barren run in the midfield

In 2021, Vigfusson moved to Haas in Formula Earth and Peric moved to DS Tehceetah. As a result, the team signed Audi reserve driver Edvin Beqiri and Josephi Krakowski from the withdrawing Mahindra team. Jaguar found themselves in the upper midfield and scored only 1 podium with Beqiri. The season finale saw the Kosovan in 10th in the standings and Krakowski in 13th. It would be the last time a Jaguar driver would finish in the top 10 and would also see the last time a Jaguar scored a podium in Formula International. Also, British starlet Christian McGonagall raced for 2 races when Krakowski was injured and scored 4 points and would eventually move to Mercedes for 2022.

Beqiri and Krakowski were kept for 2022, but the team slipped somewhat in performance. Beqiri did manage to score 49 points and still showed glimpses of his potential, but Krakowski underperformed and only scored 16 points. The duo was kept for one more year, with performances remaining the same in 2023. In 2024, the team lost both of its drivers, as Beqiri was drafted by McLaren and Krakowski was let go following his contract expiry. The team, who has been starting to be dry on resources, signed journeymen Sake Okasas and Andrei Aimansha. 2024 saw a new low for the team, scoring only a combined total of 30, with Okasas beating Aimansha by 2 points. Both drivers moved to Virgin on a swap deal, with American duo Norman Power and Jarvan Ligthshield moving to the team in the opposite way. The team proved to be the best in the lower midfield, with Power scoring 15 points and Ligthshield 12. However, both drivers moved away in 2026, with Power moving to Tesla Dragon and Lightshield to DS. Okasas returned to the team and Josephin Yashin was signed from Audi. The team finished again above the other struggling teams but only scored 12 points in total.

## 2027-2029: Financial Problems and Shutdown

Both drivers left the team in 2027 as the team's funds started to dry up. Yashin was drafted by McLaren and Okasas moved to Geely Nio. The team signed journeyman Doug Tosser-Schmidt and Irish starlet Jonathan Thor, who became the first 2010-born driver to race in Formula International. Jaguar, however, had dropped to the backmarker group due to a lack of funds and only scored 4 points, 3 from Tosser-Schmidt and 1 from Thor. The Namimbian moved to Geely, and Viola Fitzau was announced as the team's second driver. 2028 was an even worse year, as the team failed to register a single point during the year, the only team to do so.

Thor moved to Mercedes for 2029, and Tosser-Schmidt returned for one more year. Glen Smith would also race in the last round due to Fitzau's injury. The team, once again, failed to score points and finished last. In the end of the year, they announced that they would leave the sport due to a lack of funds and sell the assets. The assets were purchased by Mohammed bin Salman, who promoted his Saudia team to the series, and would win the double on just their second season in the sport.

## Notable Drivers

* Freyr Vigfusson (2020)
* Andelko Peric (2020)
* Edvin Beqiri (2021-2023)
* Josephi Krakowski (2021-2023)
* Christian McGonagall (2021)
* Sake Okasas (2024, 2026)
* Andrei Aimansha (2024)
* Norman Power (2025)
* Jarvan Ligthshield (2025)
* Josephin Yashin (2026)
* Doug Tosser-Schmidt (2027, 2029)
* Jonathan Thor (2027-2028)
* Viola Fitzau (2028-2029)
* Glen Smith (2029)