Pretoria, South Africa, 27 July 2026: Jaguar TCS Racing faced a demanding and fast?changing Round 15 in Tokyo, with heavy early rain giving way to a drying circuit that shifted the strategic picture mid?race.
António Félix da Costa led from the front after starting P2, pulling a gap of over four seconds in the wet phase of the race, while Mitch Evans climbed from P7 into the top five. As track conditions improved, the team’s wet tyre pressure strategy for both cars became a disadvantage, with tyres losing grip and energy efficiency harder to manage. Consequently, both António and Mitch dropped down out of points scoring positions.
A late multi?car incident triggered a red flag, with António caught in unavoidable contact and forced to change his front wing, dropping him to the back for the one?lap restart. With only a single lap remaining, both drivers had limited opportunity to recover, António finished the race in P16. Mitch retired his Jaguar I-TYPE 7 on the final lap of the race – an early-race brush of the wall eventually causing a suspension issue.
Sunday’s race followed a more positive Round 14 in which Jaguar TCS Racing secured a double points finish with Mitch charging from P16 on the grid to an exceptional P4 at the flag, while António climbed through the pack to finish P9 on the day.
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing driver #9, said: “We went for a full wet tyre pressure set-up today, as the forecast we were looking at suggested we’d expect a lot of rain in the opening phases of the race. Unfortunately, that didn’t come. It’s disappointing but we’re still very much in the title fight. We’ve got two races left and historically had good performance in London, so I know as a team we won’t stop fighting.”
António Félix da Costa, Jaguar TCS Racing driver #13, said: “Clearly, that was a frustrating race. It hurts. I’ve had a quick car all weekend and qualified on the front row today. In the race we started with tyre pressures to suit the wet - and as soon as it dried that meant my pace dropped away while those on dry pressures could capitalise. But, we learn, and we’ll go to London focused and ready to fight.”
Ian James, Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal, said: “After a strong qualifying result from both drivers, the remainder of today didn’t unfold the way we expected. We set tyre pressures on both cars for a wet race based on the conditions we anticipated, but the weather changed as the lights went out and the track dried very quickly. That put us on the back foot as the race evolved, and from that point it was impossible to stay competitive with those who had gambled on tyre pressures for a dry race. But, while it’s not the result we wanted, we clearly have a very fast car in the Jaguar I-TYPE 7 and still leave Tokyo in a stronger championship position - both in the Drivers’ and Teams’ - than we arrived. We’ll take that into London and keep fighting right to the end. Congratulations though to Porsche, who wrapped up the Manufacturers’ Championship today.”
Mitch Evans now sits second in the Drivers’ standings with 144 points – two points behind leader Jake Dennis – while António Félix da Costa is sixth with 113 points. Jaguar TCS Racing retains its lead in the ABB FIA Teams’ World Championship on 257 points – 14 points ahead of Porsche.
The 2025/26 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will conclude at the London E-Prix double-header, 15-16 August 2026.
