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Nelson Piquet Jr joins Jaguar Formula E team

10:05am BST - 01:20

Jaguar Racing unveil Nelson Piquet Jr as their new driver for the 2017/18 Formula E season

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SHOWS: WHITLEY, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 21, 2017) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. JAGUAR RACING'S NEW FORMULA E I-TYPE CAR BEING UNVEILED 2. VARIOUS OF CAR ON DISPLAY 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAGUAR RACING DRIVER, NELSON PIQUET JR, SAYING: "I think mostly it's the four years of Formula E that I've had. I think that will help us help the team catch up a little bit that the years that they have missed. You know I brought a little bit of some of the people that I used to work in the past; bit in Formula One, bit in GP2 on board as well. I think that will help the team really move into the right direction and just accelerate the process, you know, where the Panasonic Jaguar Racing is in the catching-up mode, you know, just because we've started two years later than everybody else. So we just need to accelerate this process as much as possible and you know try to be, you know, first of all competing for points in every race and then the next step, you know, if we're really doing well, competing for podiums and then, you know, wins in the future." STORY: Jaguar Racing unveiled Nelson Piquet Jr as their new driver for the 2017/18 Formula E season on Thursday (September 21). The UK-based team also launched their new car at the same event. Piquet, who won the inaugural Formula E title in 2015, has joined Jaguar from the NextEV/NIO team. In his two seasons at NextEV/NIO the Brazilian failed to finish in the top 10 in the drivers' standings. Jaguar are embarking on their second season in Formula E having finished bottom of the team standings in the 2016/17 season. Piquet and his team mate, Mitch Evans are hopeful that Jaguar will be able to challenge for points from the first race of the season in Hong Kong in December. Earlier in September, Jaguar announced it is to launch an all-electric support series of races to accompany the fourth Formula E championship which starts in Hong Kong in December and ends in Montreal in July 2018. The world's first production-based electric series, revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show, will start up alongside Formula E's fifth season and feature cars based on Jaguar's I-PACE performance SUV. Jaguar Land Rover's first battery electric model is due to go on sale in late 2018. The company, owned by India's Tata Motors, has said all its new cars will be available in an electric or hybrid version from 2020. Up to 20 cars will take part in 10 races, each lasting half an hour, that will be held on the same circuits and weekends as Formula E in cities around the world including Hong Kong, New York and Paris. Formula E is increasingly of interest to major manufacturers, with Formula One world champions Mercedes and Le Mans 24 Hours winners Porsche due to enter season six in 2019/20. Other manufacturers already involved in the electric series include BMW and Audi as well as Renault, Citroen and India's Mahindra.