Motorsport: Mercedes and Porsche change their strategy
MOTORSPORT The two Stuttgart-based car manufacturers are changing their motorsport strategies and entering the FIA Formula E. Porsche is already ending its sports car involvement prematurely at the end of 2017, while Mercedes is turning its back on the DTM at the end of 2018. In the future, all the major German manufacturers will compete in FIA Formula E and demonstrate their expertise there. The central driving force is [...]
All the major German manufacturers will compete in the FIA Formula E in the future and demonstrate their expertise there. The central driving force for Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche is the development of innovative technologies in the field of electric mobility.
Audi has been involved since the current season via Team Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport. Previously, the Ingolstadt-based company was a technology partner.
BMW announced on July 11 its entry into Formula E, in which the Munich-based company has so far been active by fielding the BMW i8 as a safety car and providing factory support to the MS Amlin Andretti team. Starting in the year-long Season 5 (2018/19), the American Formula E team of former IndyCar champion and Formula 1 driver Michael Andretti will act as the official factory team and use a powertrain developed by BMW in the race cars that are standardized for all Formula E teams.
Mercedes announced on Monday of this week that it will withdraw from the DTM at the end of the 2018 season. Instead, there will be a Mercedes works team in FIA Formula E from the 2019/20 season. An option for one of the ten fixed grid positions has already existed since this season.
With the loss of Mercedes, which had been present in Europe's most popular touring car series since the end of the 1980s, there is a big question mark over the future of the DTM. A solo effort by Audi and BMW is out of the question and a new manufacturer is not in sight.
Today, Friday, Porsche also announced its entry into the FIA Formula E from the 2019/20 season. In return, its involvement in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the Porsche 919 Hybrid will be terminated early, i.e. as early as the end of 2017. Porsche had originally committed to the WEC until 2019, in which the Stuttgart-based company will continue to compete as a GT factory team with the 911 RSR.
New chance for Porsche works driver Neel Jani
By winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times and both world championship titles (drivers and constructors), Porsche has achieved everything it can with the 919 Hybrid. In the current season, with five races still to go, Porsche is also ahead in both rankings. What will happen next in the WEC is written in the stars, as only Toyota remains as an LMP1 manufacturer at the moment.
Porsche wants to keep all LMP1 factory drivers employed. Neel Jani has previously expressed an interest in FIA Formula E. Of all six LMP1 factory drivers, the 33-year-old from Biel is by far the most successful race car driver with experience in all series up to Formula 1. His valuable contribution as a development and race driver is always praised at Porsche - why shouldn't he do the same in FIA Formula E?
It can therefore be assumed that Jani will drive one of the two Formula E Porsches and help with its development. Especially since there are no lucrative alternatives.
This would mean that two top Swiss drivers would be present in Formula E in the form of Neel Jani and Sébastien Buemi, who recently extended his contract with Renault by another two years.
Sébastien Buemi fights for second FIA Formula E title in Canada
For Buemi, it's all about the title this weekend at the finale of the 2016/17 season in Montreal. The driver from Vaud still leads the championship by ten points to Abt Audi's Lucas di Grassi after the latter's absence on the penultimate weekend in New York (date clash with the WEC at the Nürburgring).
A year ago, the Swiss and the Brazilian fought out the title between themselves - with a happy ending for Buemi.
