Neel Jani leaves Formula E
FORMULA E Neel Jani has parted company with his American Formula E team. Instead, he is concentrating on endurance racing with Rebellion, in which the Swiss team will field two new LMP1 cars. You could hear Neel Jani's dissatisfaction after the premiere on December 2-3 in Hong Kong. The two Penske EV-2 electric racing cars from Dragon [...]
You could hear Neel Jani's dissatisfaction after the premiere on December 2-3 in Hong Kong. The two Penske EV-2 electric racing cars from Dragon Racing were the slowest in the 20-strong field. With two 18th places, Neel Jani was completely undervalued.
After the great interest he showed in FIA Formula E, he suddenly lost interest in it. Now the 34-year-old from Biel has drawn the consequences and is no longer competing. The conditions in the US team are not in place for Jani to have a say in good placings as he had hoped.
Neel Jani: "There were unforeseen changes. We therefore decided to part ways in our mutual interest. I would like to thank Dragon Racing for giving me the chance to gain my first experience in Formula E."
However, the endurance world champion and 2016 Le Mans winner, who is still under contract with Porsche, will not remain unemployed. He has signed up with Rebellion Racing for the 2018/19 super season, which begins in Spa in May and ends with the second 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2019. He also wants to contest a few GT races to get to know this side of the sport.
The team, which operates under the Swiss flag and is financed by Lausanne industrialist Alexandre Pesci, is fielding two new Oreca cars in the top LMP1 category. The second Swiss driver in the team is Mathias Beche from Geneva.
As with Porsche, Jani will be joined at the wheel by German André Lotterer. The other drivers are Bruno Senna (BR), Thomas Laurent (F) and Gustavo Menezes (USA). The new cars and team will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.
