DECEMBER 16, 2015

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Editor-In-Chief's Note: John Thawley and I go back a long way. Our previous lives intersected for a brief, fleeting moment way back when and now here we are. John is one of the premier motorsports photojournalists in the world, and I am so very pleased that we're able to feature his prodigious talent and exceptional work in the pages of Autoextremist.com. As he does every year, John has put together a (three-page) gallery of his stunning images from the 2015 motorsports year for us. You can check it out here. -PMD

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)

(FIA Formula E)
Jaguar will return to global motorsport as a manufacturer - with its own team - in the autumn of 2016 with an entry in the FIA Formula E Championship. Jaguar Land Rover will use the global racing series for electric powered racing machines to accelerate the development of future EV powertrains, including motor and battery technology. “I am proud to announce Jaguar's return to racing with an entry into the innovative FIA Formula E championship," announced Nick Rogers, Group Engineering Director for Jaguar Land Rover. “Electric vehicles will absolutely play a role in Jaguar Land Rover's future product portfolio and Formula E will give us a unique opportunity to further our development of electrification technologies. The Championship will enable us to engineer and test our advanced technologies under extreme performance conditions." Williams Advanced Engineering will be Technical Partner to the Jaguar Formula E Team, providing extensive motorsport knowledge, combined with its high performance EV Systems experience. Jaguar Land Rover has a long term relationship with Williams, who partnered with Jaguar on the development of the Jaguar C-X75 plug-in hybrid concept car. The team entry has been granted by Formula E and approved by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

(FIA Formula E Championship)
Sébastien Buemi (No. 9 Renault e.Dams) won the Julius Baer Punta del Este ePrix in Uruguay last weekend. Lucas Di Grassi (No. 11 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) finished second and Jérôme D'Ambrosio (No. 7 Dragon Racing) finished third. Buemi, who has established himself as an early star of the all-electric racing series, started fifth instead of from his usual pole position but charged to the front for his fifth win in Formula E. (12/21)

(FIA Formula E Championship)
Luca Di Grassi (No. 11 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport), who finished second, had this to say: “Today second was the maximum we could achieve with Renault again showing they have the car to beat. Also this result is thanks to my team who did a really good job in the pitstop where I moved ahead of both Dragon cars. I managed to catch Buemi and tried to manage the gap but he was too fast, they have been the quickest in the first three races. He’s the man to win the championship but if he doesn’t do it we’ll be here to do it.” (12/21)

(FIA Formula E Championship)
Jérôme D' Ambrosio (No. 7 Dragon Racing) came in third: “Getting both Dragon cars in the top-five was a good achievement. Starting from pole you want to win the race but realistically the other cars are faster. I just did my own race. Loic and I had a close one here as in Beijing, I didn’t have much energy left and was in a close fight. I was under pressure but managed to hold on.” (12/21)

(FIA Formula E Championship)
A view from the podium after the Julius Baer Punta del Este ePrix in Uruguay. Next up is the Buenos Aires ePrix in Argentina on February 6th. (12/21)

Editor-In-Chief's Note: Formula E, which started out as somewhat of a lark a couple of years ago, has turned into a viable, global visibility and technical development platform for a burgeoning group of companies and manufacturers. With the onset of massive investments in electric, plug-in electric and extended-range hybrid vehicles throughout the autosphere in order to meet stringent future emissions and fuel efficiency standards, expect to see more and more manufacturers signing up to compete in Formula E. -PMD

Editor-In-Chief's Note: Watch my old friend Jeff Zwart driving his purpose-built, 800HP Porsche 911 GT3 Turbo as he becomes the 13th driver to finish in less than 10 minutes on the 12.42-mile Pikes Peak International Hill Climb course, setting a new personal record in the process. The multi-GoPro camera video is exceptional too.

Editor's Note: Watch the latest episode of AutoextremistTV on YouTube here. -WG