
The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team will be entering its sixth season in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship at this weekend’s opening round at the São Paulo E-Prix on 7th December with a new colour livery and as world champion following Pascal Wehrlein’s championship victory last season.
Nico Müller, the new Swiss works driver, will be making his race debut in the brand-new GEN3 Evo generation of the Porsche 99X Electric for the Porsche customer team Andretti Formula E. Also new this season, is second Porsche customer and fellow American team, Cupra Kiro, who will be using 99X technology from the previous generation, GEN3. That said, it is a proven package, and what the works team and Andretti each won a world championship title in. Former reserve driver for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, David Beckmann, has been given a permanent seat at Cupra Kiro, and is the sixth official Porsche driver in the championship.
Portuguese driver António Félix da Costa, Wehrlein’s team-mate, has a huge following in Brazil and sees the São Paulo E-Prix as his home race. In last year’s race he finished sixth, before a sharp improvement in form, achieving his fourth and final win of the season three months later, with no other driver getting more season wins than da Costa. Wehrlein finished in fourth as he battled his way to victory in the drivers’ world championship which means that the first German Formula E champion will now be driving in car number 1.
This season will also see another big change, in so far as it will be the first time that the manufacturers represented in Formula E are also able to win a world championship title in addition to the drivers and teams, making it a fully-fledged FIA world championship.
The Porsche 99X Electric’s new colours symbolise the technology transfer to production and come from the electric Taycan Turbo GT, Porche’s most powerful production vehicle. Innovations include activation of the drive on the front wheels, tyres with more grip and a modified front wing.
The new season’s Porsche teams and driver lineup is as follows:
TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
- Pascal Wehrlein (GER, #1), Porsche 99X Electric
- António Félix da Costa (POR, #13), Porsche 99X Electric
Andretti Formula E
- Jake Dennis (GBR, #27), Porsche 99X Electric
- Nico Müller (SUI, #51), Porsche 99X Electric
CUPRA KIRO
- David Beckmann (GER, #3), Porsche 99X Electric WCG3
- Dan Ticktum (GBR, #33), Porsche 99X Electric WCG3
Director Factory Motorsport Formula E, Florian Modlinger, commented:
“Bring on the new season, we are ready for it. We will be driving for three world championship titles and want to win as many of them as possible. Overall, there are many new features: the Porsche 99X Electric, the introduction of all-wheel drive, and, for the first time as a manufacturer, we will have six cars in the field. I would like to thank the whole team in Weissach for getting everything done according to plan. Although much is new, our works team remains the same, which is a good premise for the start of the season. We are expecting São Paulo to give us an initial idea of the balance of power in the field – providing that the qualifying sessions and race remain dry.”
Author Bio:
Simon Burrell is a UK-based motoring and travel journalist and editor, a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and former saloon car racing driver.
Photographs courtesy of Porsche AG
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