A messy race but Nelson Piquet Jnr produces stylish drive as Jaguar bare their teeth at Hong Kong E-Prix

Brazilian claws his way up from 10th to fourth after early pile-up in Formula E season opener, while Macau Grand Prix hotshot Mortara finds the going tough

Reading Time:3 minutes

Panasonic Jaguar Racing's driver's Nelson Piquet Jnr of Brazil in action during Saturday’s race. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:30pm, 2 Dec 2017Updated: 10:15pm, 2 Dec 2017

Matters didn’t go quite according to plan for Nelson Piquet Jnr on his debut for Panasonic Jaguar Racing in the first leg of the HKT Hong Kong E-Prix.

But the Brazilian warmed to the task the longer the race went on – and that augurs well for the future of the man and the British outfit in just its second season of electric racing.

“A few races need to happen so we can fix things. It was a tough race and we had to fight hard,” said the 32-year-old Piquet, who finished a fast-closing fourth behind runaway winner Sam Bird (DS Virgin Racing).

The double-header means Jaguar can keep the momentum going in race two on Sunday. Teammate Mitch Evans had – as always – shown an abundance of speed at various stages across Saturday’s practice, qualifying and racing and Piquet said Jaguar could now nestle down to dinner happy with the way things were going as the Formula E season proper begins.

Nelson Piquet Jnr steers his Jaguar in the first race. Photo: Edward Wong

Piquet jumped camps from NIO to Jaguar over the off-season, saying he wanted to be consistently challenging for podium positions, and Jaguar look to be making fast inroads into the series.