FE: Williams link key for Jaguar

Jaguar says its tie-up with Williams Advanced Engineering will be key to ensuring it is successful when it joins the Formula E grid next season.

The British manufacturer and Williams worked together on the C-X75 hybrid roadcar project, and that partnership will now continue into Formula E. Williams will aid research and development for Jaguar's powertrain, while its managing director Craig Wilson will become the Formula E team's race director.

WAE is already a key part of the all-electric championship, where it is the sole battery supplier, though it will hand over on-event support to the teams to Spark Racing Technologies from season three.

"We have had a long-term partnership with WAE so from a technical perspective, both supporting R&D and also our team operations, we'll be working with bringing expertise from WilliamsJaguar team director James Barclay (RIGHT). "Building the foundation of a successful team has been key for us and a partner like Williams is key to that. The benefit we have is a partner we already have that working understanding with."

Jaguar Land Rover director of group engineering Nick Rogers believes the two companies' pre-existing relationship offers a technical boost as well as practical advantages.

The C-X75 project utilized the same lithium-ion battery and electric motor technology as in Formula E.

"It's all one team," he said. "Williams are racing experts and that's their speciality, and we're specialists in a lot of this technology. It makes a really good partnership and our engineering team will be core to that.

"That [battery] technology is already within our knowledge base and we're pushing the boundaries. It is what we were pioneering on C-X75. We're effectively part of the [championship's] DNA."

Originally on Autosport.com