Carroll set for Jaguar FE seat after test

Adam Carroll spearheaded Jaguar’s first public Formula E running in the pre-season test at Donington Park last week, ahead of the manufacturer’s return to major international motorsport.

The Northern Irishman was joined at Donington by Alex Lynn, Harry Tincknell and Mitch Evans as Jaguar continues to evaluate its driver line-up for the 2016/17 FE campaign.

Carroll looks set to land one of the seats having spent all three days at Donington driving the I-type 1, with British duo Lynn and Tincknell and New Zealander Evans sharing the second car as they vie to be his team-mate.

Lynn has a clear link to the Williams Advanced Engineering-run Jaguar programme, thanks to his role as a Williams F1 development driver, and outpaced Carroll on the opening day of the test. Tincknell ran on the final day, when most of the running was in the wet.

GP2 race-winner Evans ended up quickest of the Jaguar quartet but still only set the 17th fastest time of the test because the team did not focus on performance runs at Donington, which contrasts greatly with the street circuits FE will visit in the coming season.

Evans’ best, a 1m31.267s, was 1.6s slower than the fastest time from the test; Jean-eric Vergne’s recordbreaking 1m29.634s for the new Techeetah team on the second day.

Despite reports of Jaguar struggling for reliability during its private testing, it racked up 500 miles of running at Donington – just shy of last year’s leading teams Renault e. dams and Abt Audi Sport, and more than Andretti, Faraday Future Dragon Racing and Nextev.

It is unknown whether Jaguar will field its two race drivers at the final test, which runs from September 5-7; though it is due to officially unveil its line-up and livery at a launch on September 8.