Jaguar Team Principal James Barclay is set to leave Formula E after the London E-Prix double header. The Brit who lead the manufacturer’s Formula E effort since its foundation is heading to the endurance world.
Goodbye Formula E
Before signing off to become McLaren’s Team Principal, Barclay bid his farewell to the championship. He described his emotions ahead of the London E-Prix.
“For sure, it’s a special weekend, it’s a bittersweet as I’ve probably described to a few people. It’s an amazing championship, it’s been an absolute honour to bring Jaguar back to motorsport and to win World Championships.”
“So yeah, I’m treating this also like, for some degree, a business as usual, right? We’ve got two more races to go, we’ve got a position to really fight for in this championship in the teams, the drivers and the manufacturers.”
At the moment, he is still entirely focused on his actual team, with drivers Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy recently returning to fight for the top spots.
“So yeah, two races to get our heads down and hopefully finish on a great high this season and then I’ll enjoy celebrating with the team. Just being with the team this weekend is going to be very special, but for sure at the end of two hard races I go down, that was when I can really think about it.”
Looking back at everything
Asked on what he regards as the biggest accomplishment he has achieved during his career as Jaguar Team Principal, Barclay admitted that he is most proud of the bonds he has created.
“The greatest achievement is pulling together an amazing group of people and achieving some wonderful results together. That is the biggest reward, is when you start with a blank sheet of paper and you build a team with great people that do incredible things and you win World Championships, it’s very special.”
“So yeah, it’s the people that mean everything and representing the incredible brand that we have at Jaguar.”
Another one bites the dust. In fact, even Nick Cassidy will part ways with Jaguar Formula E after the London round. Barclay commemorated the moment and praised
“He’s an absolute pure racer in the sense that he absolutely loves us to race andhe’s a very intelligent person driving, he brings a lot to the team in terms of how he approaches his race craft, the setup and development of the car.
“But he’s pure hungry, he just wants to win, he just wants to win at all costs. But he puts everything into it to be absolutely fair, to get the results that he and the team do and yeah. That’s what we’ve seen with him in his time with us. He’s been a formidable racer. I think with the team he’s achieved some great results.”
