Cassidy's Monaco podium a sign of progress for TCS Jaguar

Nick Cassidy says “there’s light in the tunnel” after he got his first podium finish of the season in the second race of the Monaco E-Prix, providing a bright note in what has otherwise been a challenging season for TCS Jaguar Racing.

After taking both the teams’ and manufacturers’ titles last season, with Cassidy and teammate Mitch Evans taking two wins apiece and remaining in contention for the drivers’ title until the final round, Jaguar has been notably off the pace this season.

Evans grabbed a fortuitous win at the season opener in Sao Paulo, but Jaguar’s only other top-10 finish before Monaco was Cassidy’s fifth in the second race in Jeddah. Ending the weekend strong in the principality eased the pressure.

“It’s already feeling like a big monkey off the off back kind of thing,” Cassidy said. “It’s been a huge dry spell, being really tough events. We just keep working hard though. I don’t think that we’ve had probably the most competitive car this year, which has been a bit of a shock considering where we were in the last few seasons, and to be in this position was pretty tough on everyone.”

Despite the slow start to the year, Cassidy says the team is starting to see potential, but it needs to understand just why it’s fluctuating so much.

“I think the difference yesterday to today in FP3 was definitely a clear one,” he said. “So there’s light in the tunnel, and we’ll keep working to try and get better throughout the season.

“We’re showing glimpses of performance. We’re trying to understand why at times we’re fighting top three, why at times we’re fighting P19. That’s kind of our situation with our car at the moment.

“I think we’re kind of starting to understand where we’ve gone wrong, and if we can put those pieces … together in Tokyo, .”