Jaguar announce cutting edge race car with a heritage sponsor

Jaguar racing car will carry the Castrol badge once again

Together, they won at Daytona in 1990 with this car, driven by Andy Wallace, Jan Lammers and Davy Jones and of course were sponsors of the TWR efforts with the purple liveried cars for the victories at Le Mans in 1988 and 1990 and the wins in the World Sportscar Series.

Fast forward to this year and Panasonic Jaguar Racing have today revealed their brand-new all electric racecar to challenge for season six of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship with the return of a very familiar logo on the side of the car.

The team’s official launch, which took place in front of VIPs, media, partners and fans was at Jaguar’s brand-new design studio in Gaydon, Warwickshire – the most advanced automotive design centre in the world. The announcement included news of of a new sponsor for season six of the Formula E championship - Castrol! A name synonymous with the heydays of Jaguar's victories in motorsport with the cars engineered and run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing.

The Castrol Press department said:

"Over the years, Jaguar Racing and Castrol have enjoyed extraordinary motorsport success, including victory at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours and the 24 hours of Daytona.Using Castrol’s e-fluids, will allow Jaguar and Castrol to collaborate, learn and win on the track, and further develop advanced technology and e-fluids for the award-winning Jaguar I-PACE and future road-going Jaguar vehicles."

Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club members interested in asking questions of the engineer from the TWR era of Jaguar's racing should check out our #AskAllan feature here.

The Jaguar I-TYPE 4, featuring an all new motor, gearbox, inverter, rear suspension and dampers has seen its overall weight reduced offering improved handling and performance. The lightest and most efficient powertrain the team has ever produced, the Jaguar I-TYPE 4 has a lower centre of gravity and will allow the team to push towards even more points, podiums and wins in season six.

The new powertrain also features a new vehicle control module - which increases the processing capacity and allows faster rate of software development – this puts Jaguar at the forefront of battery electric vehicle innovation.

James Barclay, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director said:

"The start of a new season is an exciting time for the team. After months of hard work we are excited to show the world the new Jaguar I-TYPE 4. We have applied all of our experience in Formula E to date and our latest innovations into the new racecar and the development team have created what we believe will be our most competitive Formula E car to date. We’ve learnt how to win as a team and we are hungry for more in season six. We can’t wait to get racing!"

I know we are looking forward to season 6, especially the London round which involves an indoor/outdoor track through the Excel Arena! Season 5 proved a great leap for Jaguar, going into the final weekend with Driver Mitch Evans still in with a shout to win the overall championship. All hoping he can go another step closer to bringing Jaguar back to the top of the racing world again.

Two more winning additions to team!

Tiny these two additions may be, but they are huge for all fans of Jaguar. Racing have partnered with leading toy manufacturers the LEGO Group and Scalextric to create mini versions of the electric cars. The LEGO® Speed Champions set featuring the Formula E Panasonic Jaguar Racing GEN2 car and Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY will be available to buy from 1 January 2020. The Jaguar I-TYPE Scalextric will be on sale from Spring 2020.

We are sure these will be a hit with Jaguar fans so look out for them in a store near you soon!

What are the dates?

Season 6 kicks off in November, right the way through until July 2020. The provisional dates are: