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“I’m fine now, but this is the heat of the moment and it’s very frustrating,” Cassidy said. “I should be frustrated now but this is what it is, it’s frustrating, and there’s not much you can do.”

For a man who did not score any points in a Formula E double weekend for the first time since Berlin in 2022, Cassidy was fairly quiet after an hour of last Sunday’s Portland E-Prix.

But being calm gets you through a lot, and Cassidy is good at that when he needs to. He’s very good at keeping the lid on a boiling pot, in public anyway.

Behind the scenes, he seems like any athlete driven by a desire to win. He can be rough, he can be rough, he can be very honest.

He may have been a bit honest last Sunday, too. When the excitement is high and the carbon fiber is ignited, so are the nerves. Especially when Cassidy, in final attack mode, realized that a rear crash structure and a damaged Hankook tire meant a trip to the pits that would end in points.

When he found out it was his teammate, his blood probably boiled.

But the circumstances were mitigating. Because Edoardo Mortara’s attempts to get through the first left corner after braking hard were the main reason for all the destructive effects the accordion had.

Cassidy hit Jake Dennis from behind, and Evans did the same to Cassidy. While Evans escaped with minor injuries, his teammate was not so lucky.

Cassidy told The Race that he spoke to Evans afterward.

“It’s not my place to judge him, but he apologized, which is great, and he’s really good at it, but it doesn’t add much to my points,” he said.

Now, as if attacked by the famous chainsaw wielded by the mascot of the local Portland Timbers football team, his advantage has quickly been cut in half.

Evans now being tied with Jaguar’s title rival Wehrlein throughout the season means an extra layer of complexity in terms of the points standings and internal team management at the London Excel show in two weeks’ time.

“I had a 12-point lead and didn’t score a point in two races, so honestly it could have been worse after a weekend like that,” Cassidy said.

“I’m in a much better position going into London this year than I was last year. [when, as an Envision driver, he was 24 points behind eventual champion Dennis]I think we’ll be strong there. I’m looking forward to it because it’s one of my favorite racetracks on the calendar.

“It’s just going to be a fight, man. Let’s get ready for it and fight for it.”

Evans’s Mixed Feelings

Evans continued his slump in Saturday’s penalty-hit race, posting a strong third place on Sunday.

Evans had to “go all out, which made it very difficult to get into the attack.” [mode] “And you lose more positions”

This delayed his second attack and put him too late. When the safety car came out, he was hurt.

The late attack mode negated his hard-earned power advantage, meaning he had to “survive for the last few laps” as he wasted a lot of energy overtaking traffic on his 350kW laps. This gave him track position, but he couldn’t fight for the win after that.

It remains unclear how much the heavy penalty Evans received for his collision with Jake Hughes on Saturday – which saw him drop from first to third – will affect his title chances.

A year ago, he caused his championship ambitions to collapse when he totaled Cassidy’s Envision Jaguar in Rome.

This time, Evans’ 23 points from Portland, compared to the zero he picked up from Cassidy’s side in the Jaguar garage, are clearly beneficial to Evans’ bid to become Jaguar’s first ever Formula E champion after three seasons of always finishing in the top three but narrowly missing the top spot.

But the reality is that he will have to pull off one of his famous double-win attacks to ensure he can do so, with both Wehrlein and Cassidy also expected to be on the front foot in London.

“I expect a good battle between the Porsches but the difference is [championship] “This is really big for us,” added Evans, who lead Jaguar in the division by 33 points.

“They are both performing strongly, Antonio and Pascal.

“I feel like if we can get that [teams’ title] “Then one of us can win the drivers.”

“One of Us” – will this put a smile on the faces of the jaguars or send a shiver down their spines, as Verlaine and incredibly Da Costa saunter like stalking horses ready to ruin a big cat party in London?

Responsible Manipulation Team Leader

“From our perspective, both drivers now have a chance to win the championship and both have our full support,” said Jaguar Team Principal James Barclay.

“But at the core, we are all racing for the team and, from our point of view, both drivers have an equal chance in this championship.

“As a team, we will work to ensure that we do not do anything that puts the team at risk.”

Risk. In any other motorsport, this might be a passing line. In Formula E, it pulsates and lights up the pages. Risk and danger are some of the most overused buzzwords in the Formula E paddock, and for good reason.

Barclay and his first team, indeed the entire team, have a clear policy. It is to maximize the chances of the Jaguar drivers winning the championship, but with the understanding that “we are not putting the championship of the two teams at risk,” according to Barclay.

“That has to be the goal and it’s very clear really, there’s no other option,” he added.

“Both drivers have a chance but both drivers will respect each other and we all respect that we are racing for the team and whoever wins will win.

“But let’s also do it to maximize the team’s chance of winning our first championship as well.”

From the outside, it looks as if Jaguar has a real central view of its garage, with no division or toxicity in the competition between its drivers.

Some stewards, other teams and even some media have tried to create a rift between the drivers. But it has not worked. But the biggest test will be this weekend in London of course.

“We make sure there are no two sides to the garage approach,” Barclay adds. “It will be down to the details in London, whoever does the best details. Most importantly, we race for the team.”

“One driver will finish ahead of the other, that’s the nature of the game and the nature of the sport, but we’ll make sure that the drivers have an equal chance to fight for the championship.”