Discover more
It was an intense qualifying battle, but Nick Cassidy and Jaguar TCS Racing managed to deliver his first Julius Baer Pole Position of the season when it mattered most. The three points for pole also means there’s just four points between him and Mitch Evans (Jaguar) and Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche).
It was a huge result for Cassidy and the team, not just for the championship fight, but also as they suffered several complications in the lead up to the qualifying event. Both cars had issues during practice earlier today, with Cassidy unable to set a lap time after a brake-by-wire problem emerged and Evans with a damaged roll bar on his I-TYPE 6. Nevertheless, they gave it their all to get a car on the first and second row of the grid.
“Wow, what a moment,” Cassidy said after achieving pole. “I think I have probably been the strongest mentally I have ever been. The last three races have been super tough. I just keep doing the work and bounce back.
“I watched an amazing video of Roger Federer doing a Dartmouth University speech and he said’ you take five seconds to think about what happened, you take seconds to reset and you take five seconds to think about what's next’. For me it was like how many five seconds do I need? It was going on a bit.”
In the emotional scenes, Cassidy thanked the team for the amazing result and shared a hug with Team Principal James Barclay.
“Look I think the turn around from the team today with all the challenges we had this morning was absolutely unbelievable. Probably one of the most proud moments of my career, regardless of the result this afternoon.
“To have that happen in FP3, and have our first pole like that is really special.”