Jaguar TCS Racing enjoyed their biggest points haul in Formula E to date. After the checkered flag was waved on the final round in Seoul, we checked in with our technology partner.
Running and Transforming Throughout Season 8
It’s been absolutely thrilling to follow Jaguar TCS Racing in Season 8 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. I became a new fan of the sport last season and was excited to celebrate the team’s dazzling double victory in Rome earlier this season. And the Formula E double-header finale in Seoul this month was an exhilarating conclusion to the season.
In Seoul, even a red flag and a 45-minute pause couldn’t stop Jaguar TCS Racing driver Mitch Evans from winning first place in the penultimate round. This victory meant that it was possible for him to take first place in the driver’s championship. The next day, Evans finished the final race in seventh, closing out a great season for the team. Jaguar TCS Racing accumulated 231 points, earning fourth overall in the team standings. Evans scored 180 of those points, finishing second in the driver standings.
As Micro Focus closes the second year of our partnership with Jaguar TCS Racing, let’s take a look at how our technology helped the team earn more points, podiums, and wins.
Turning Data into Performance
The Micro Focus and Jaguar TCS Racing partnership focuses on understanding and acting upon key data points before, during, and after races. This data provides keen insight and intelligence across all race elements, from free practice to qualifying for the E-Prix.
Key to this insight is technology from the Micro Focus IDOL and Vertica product lines. Vertica’s real-time analytics and machine learning capabilities allow them to collect huge amounts of data, analyze it, and make it available quickly. That way the team can make game-changing decisions much faster.
“The [FIA (Formula E’s governing body)] restrictions mean that we must make the most of limited resources in very short and high-pressure time windows,” says Phil Charles, Technical Manager for Jaguar TCS Racing. “To do so, we need to use the best techniques available in terms of data processing and analytics.”
Data and Insight Are Key Levers
IDOL also helps the team analyze broadcast and social media. “When performance is measured in milliseconds, every bit of information is potentially valuable in determining our own race strategy, but you can imagine the challenge in trying to filter meaningful information from this constant stream of data,” explains a Jaguar TCS Racing performance engineer. Unstructured data in particular requires a unique expertise using artificial intelligence.
Jaguar TCS Racing also leveraged the Micro Focus Professional Services to develop an IDOL-driven app and user interface. The app can ingest a huge amount of unstructured data from a variety of sources to give the team vital insights they can act on quickly.
Keeping the Team and Their Data Secure
All the data Jaguar TCS Racing creates and gathers needs to be secure. After all, it’s proprietary data that can give the team an edge against the competition. With the team traveling to over ten cities globally, sharing Wi-Fi access, and collaborating over a cloud environment, access must stay restricted.
Jaguar TCS Racing uses up to 50 applications, embeds over 250,000 lines of code in the car, and requires secure delivery of those applications across a complex environment. The team quickly and easily integrated Fortify on Demand into their development architecture, which helped them discover ways to enhance their existing API architecture and security approach.
A Transformational Season
Micro Focus began their partnership with Jaguar TCS Racing early in 2021 to help Jaguar TCS Racing push for more points, podiums, and wins. Evans missed out on the title by only 33 points this season but triumphed with four wins and seven podiums. As Micro Focus closes the second year of our partnership, I feel proud that we helped get the team even closer to a championship win with the British team’s biggest points haul to-date in Formula E.
Read the Jaguar TCS Racing summary here, and view the Season 8 finale summary video.
