It may only be just over a week since the 2022-2023 Formula E season ended in London, but nothing ever stands still in motorsport and the focus of teams has already switched to next year’s opening round in January and Mexico City.
A sign of intent has already come from Jaguar Racing, which has become the first team to formally announce its two-driver line-up for the upcoming campaign; and what a line-up it is. Mitch Evans will continue with the British manufacturer having been with the team since both joined Formula E back in 2016, during which time they’ve taken 10 wins together. And joining Evans next season will be fellow Kiwi Nick Cassidy, who on Monday was confirmed as having moved from Jaguar customer team Envision Racing into the full works outfit for 2024.
The signing of Cassidy is something of a logical decision for both parties given their close working relationship over the past year and the New Zealander’s impressive results which took him to second in the standings.
“We have had an eye on Nick for some time, in fact, when he did the rookie test for Envision [back in 2020] we were actually thinking of offering to do the test with us,” Jaguar team principal James Barclay tells Autosport.
“We definitely were tracking his career and he was someone I had my eye on with his performances in Japan [where he won the Super GT title in 2017 and Super Formula title in 2019]. Then there are moments in his Formula E career. One that stands out for me was a wet qualifying in Valencia where he made a slight mistake in the final sector, but he was so much faster than everyone in that session at one point it was incredibly impressive.
“We always saw his capability and then obviously we’ve seen that closely now this year with him being in our customer team. I’ve seen in Nick a driver who is absolutely dedicated to his craft, who is laser-focused on wanting to be successful and we love that spirit, we love that attitude. We’re real racers, we just want to fight for race wins and championships, and I think Nick has got that character as does Mitch. We’re really excited, I think they’ll be a strong pairing and I can’t wait to go racing.”
Source: Autosport