Despite last Tuesday’s fire having severely disrupted Formula E’s official pre-season test, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team still decided to use rookie Gabriela Jílková, who became the first woman to drive a Gen3 car.

Following the battery fire in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage, it was decided by Formula E that each team no longer had to use a rookie driver for three hours. For many who travelled to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, it meant they didn’t complete a single lap; however, Jílková was still given her opportunity to drive the Porsche 99X Electric.

The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic is an ADAC Prototype Cup LMP3 race winner but has competed in various GT4 championships throughout her career. She’s also been supporting Porsche’s Formula E efforts in the simulator.

She’s completed a significant amount of work in the simulator for the Stuttgart-based team, who were eager to reward her with an opportunity to test the actual car for her efforts. Giving Jílková the chance to drive the actual car will also support her simulator work, now that she knows “how the car feels” in real-life.

Porsche fielded Jílková in António Félix da Costa’s car last Thursday afternoon, where she completed 43 laps of the Spanish circuit on what was her debut in the all-electric series.

Reflecting on the laps she completed during the test, Jílková hailed Porsche’s car as “very special”, whilst she revealed that she got to a point where it was possible to “push to the limit”.

“I’m very happy that I got the chance at this test to drive the Formula E car on the racetrack for the first time,” Jílková said. “The Porsche 99X Electric is truly a very special car. It was an incredibly fascinating experience for me to get a better understanding of the car lap by lap and to push to the limit.”

Porsche received a lot of praise for not letting the fire disrupt their plan to give Jílková time behind the wheel of their Gen3 challenger. The German manufacturer were one of only a few teams to still use a rookie driver, as several other sides decided against using a rookie when it was confirmed that it was no longer a mandatory requirement.

Team Principal Florian Modlinger spoke highly of Jílková after the test and explained how beneficial it is that she now knows how the car feels both in the simulator and in real-life. This will only strengthen her future work for the outfit.

“Despite the reduced time in Valencia, we decided to go ahead with a rookie session and give Gabriela the opportunity to drive the Porsche 99X Electric on the racetrack for the first time,” Modlinger said. “She got a good idea of how the car feels compared to the simulator where she’d supported us.”

Manthey EMA Porsche’s Thomas Preining became the first Austrian DTM Drivers’ Champion by securing pole position for Race 2 in Hockenheim.

After Preining’s victory in Race 1 on Saturday, championship-contender Mirko Bortolotti needed a mighty qualifying to see the championship go on to be decided later today in Race 2.

Preining entered the session with a 27-point advantage, meaning Bortolotti needed Preining to finish outside the top three positions in qualifying and the bonus points available, whilst landing a top two qualifying spot himself to reduce the advantage to at least 25 points.

In cool conditions, serious lap times weren’t put on the board until the closing moments.

Bortolotti laid down the gauntlet with two provisional pole times, breaking into the 1:36s barrier on his final attempt in the #92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan EVO 2

However, Preining had the last laugh, snatching pole and with it the 2023 DTM Drivers’ Championship by sixth-thousandths of a second in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

After a teary radio exchange with colourful language, Preining pulled into pit lane, with Bortolotto the first to congratulate the new champion and last year’s champion Sheldon van der Linde quick to congratulate the Austrian shortly thereafter.

Preining’s time of 1:36.800s will go down in DTM history as a championship-winning time, with Bortolotti set to join him on the front row for the final race of the year, with a time just 0.006s back.

Luca Stolz secured third place in the #4 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3, 0.201s back from Preining’s time, with 2022 champion S. van der Linde in fourth for Schubert Motorsport, with the #1 BMW M4 GT3 driver 0.228s off of pole.

Laurin Heinrich rounded out the top-five for Team 75 Motorsport in the #75 Porsche with a time of 1:37.048s.

Thierry Vermeleun led the line for the Ferrari 296 GT3 drivers, landing sixth spot in his #69 Emil Frey Racing machine with a time of 1:37.069s.

Seventh went to Kelvin van der Linde, the South African lapped the Hockenheimring in a time of 1:37.075s in the #3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, making him the fastest Audi driver of the session.

Eighth went to Christian Engelhart in the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, with a time of 1:37.110s.

Ayhancan Güven in the #24 Team75 Motorsport Porsche and Maro Engel in the #48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes rounded out the top 10.

“I’m just extremely happy, I can’t even, I don’t even know what I feel, to be honest,” Preining said in pit lane after securing the title.

“A dream became a dream come true.”

Preining and the rest of the DTM field will sign off for the 2023 season with Race 2 later today, which commences at 13:30 local time (12:30 BST).

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team have finally confirmed that Pascal Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa have been retained for the new season, with the side targeting to fight for the title once again.

Whilst it was unofficially known, Porsche confirming their 2023/24 driver pairing has completed the grid for the upcoming campaign, meaning the full class of season 10 is now known. Season 10 will mark Wehrlein’s fourth year with the German manufacturer, whilst it’ll be Da Costa’s second.

Wehrlein ended season nine in a somewhat disappointing fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, despite having led the standings for three months. He was the strongest driver for the first half of the year, before falling off massively in the second half of season nine.

This ended his title hopes, whilst it also had a huge impact on Porsche’s dreams of winning the Constructors’ Championship, which they also led for the bulk of the season. Qualifying was Wehrlein’s downfall, with him having also driven too leniently at times. When he went on the attack at places like Diriyah and Jakarta, the German was on another level.

If he can show some aggression on a more consistent basis to get to the front of the field, then he’ll certainly be a contender for the season 10 championship, although the initial target is to enjoy a solid week of testing in Valencia.

“The test in Valencia marks the start of the new season,” said Wehrlein. “We’ve been busy with preparations for weeks, and we’ve already done stints in the simulator. I’m certain we’ve made further progress.

“Last season we learned a lot, which we can build on now. For Valencia, it’s important to be well prepared to be able to roll out our test programme without any issues and gain further insights. There are some minor changes for the new season. Valencia will certainly help us to fully understand them. Then, we can get stuck in.”

There is no doubting Da Costa’s talents, given that he won the Formula E title back in season six; however, he seemed to struggle settling into Porsche last year, something which impacted his title chances.

Da Costa showed great speed at times in the likes of Cape Town, where he secured a famous victory following a last-lap overtake on Jean-Éric Vergne. However, qualifying was also a huge issue for the Portuguese driver, who often had too much work to do.

With a year at Porsche under his belt though, the hope will be that he can push on in season 10. Even he recognises that “everything is easier” this season as he now knows the team and their Gen3 package, which he’s hoping to improve during pre-season testing next week.

“I’m looking forward to Valencia,” Da Costa noted. “The test is always cool because all of the teams and drivers are there. This gives us a chance to show where we stand against the competition, to see where we’re already strong and where we might need to make some improvements.

“The preparation for season 10 is going much better for me than last season’s preparation. I was new to the team last year and getting used to the car. This time everything is easier. I used the Formula E break to contest endurance races in the Porsche 963, spend time with my family and friends and prepare myself mentally and physically for the new season.”

Laurin Heinrich of the #75 Team75 Motorsport Porsche grasped his first DTM pole position in wet conditions, ahead of the first race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

A thrilling qualifying session took place at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria, where drivers qualified for their Race 1 grid positions in wet, tricky conditions.

During the dry free practice sessions, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2 cars seemed to struggle, with none finishing in the top-20 in FP1, and Luca Engstler being the highest-finishing Audi in FP2 at P18.

The championship fight played a part during the 20-minute session, with overtaking expected to be a worthy challenge around the medium-fast turns of the Spielberg circuit, and thus the protagonists of Mirko Bortolotti and Thomas Preining needed to match or outqualify one another.

The former driver leads the standings on 173 points, as the latter trailed on 164, and prior to the usual allocated qualifying points to the top-three finishers (P1/pole position – three points, P2 – two points, P3 – one point).

During the early stages of the session, Toksport WRT’s Tim Heinemann set the outright fastest pace in his #9 Porsche 911 GT3.R, from a 1:38.133 lap time.

A red flag was called with under 12 minutes remaining, after David Schumacher crashed sideways into a tyre wall after slipping up on the wet track surface at Turn 2, ruling himself out of the session in his #27 Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO2.

Bortolotti topped the order before the session was disrupted, indicating that conditions changed as lap times got quicker, after being the first to enter the 1:37 margin.

Wet tyres were still favoured as the session continued once the #27 was recovered.

During the closing stages of the session, many drivers entered the 1:37 bracket when they returned their GT3 cars to optimum running as those who experimented with the slick tyre decided to switch back to wets.

Kelvin van der Linde shot to the top of the order with a 1:36.843 lap time in his #3 ABT Sportsline Audi, showing pace in the rain-soaked conditions.

At the chequered flag, Laurin Heinrich narrowly beat van der Linde to the top spot with a 1:36.778 in his #75 Porsche.

Van der Linde finished second 0.065 seconds behind, as third was claimed by the other Team75 Motorsport Porsche of Ayhancan Güven after a 1:36.859.

Fourth place was claimed by Preining from a 1:36.594, followed by his Manthey EMA teammate of Dennis Olsen, who set a 1:36.978.

In sixth position, Maro Engel was the highest-placed Mercedes after he set a 1:36.985, followed by seventh-placed Rene Rast in his BMW M4 GT3.

His time of 1:37.010 surpassed Marco Wittmann’s #11 Project 1 BMW, which completed a lap of 1:37.016.

Luca Stolz’s #4 Team HRT Mercedes finished in ninth place from a 1:37.027 time.

Championship-leader Bortolotti rounded off the top-10, and occupied six positions behind his title rival, after his best time of 1:37.123 in the #92 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Ricardo Feller attempted to qualify on slicks, and so finished in P26 out of 28 cars, setting a tall order to narrow the gap from P3 in the championship on 142 points.

Race 1 takes place later today from 12:30 pm UK time.

Motorsport Week looks back on the eventful IMSA WeatherTech round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for who ‘won’ or ‘lost’ out of the final sprint race on the 2023 schedule.

One observation many can draw from the Battle on the Bricks, is that there was nothing short of drama and action, especially during the opening stages of the race.

It had to be mentioned that driving standards were sub-par expectations, at least with the GTP and GTD cars engaging with a chaotic start, and LMP3 cars spinning out periodically.

Yet despite this underlying theme, there were thrills amongst the spills, and certain teams made the most out of this weekend.

As ever with a 48-car field across five categories, it is unsurprisingly difficult to narrow down who ‘won’ and ‘lost’ at the Brickyard, since so many cars could arguably fall into either label.

Nevertheless, we selected our ‘Winners and Losers’ from the penultimate round on the 2023 schedule.

Loser – #9 Pfaff Motorsports (GTD Pro): Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet

The Pfaff Motorsports’ #9 Porsche 911 GT3.R qualified on GTD Pro pole in the hands of Klaus Bachler, demonstrating promising one-lap pace even if Paul Miller Racing’s Madison Snow started ahead.

Unfortunately, things were not upbeat from the moment the green flag dropped, as Bachler changed lanes drastically and was not only out of position for the start, but defended his spot before passing the start line.

An professional driver should have demonstrated better civility, and was penalised for not doing so shortly after the start with a drive-through penalty.

This openly gave the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO2 a guaranteed early lead, without the need to fight for it.

Pfaff Motorsports had thrown away their winning chances, and more importantly, a chance to see them fight eagerly with the #79 crew.

In IMSA fashion, two caution periods still kept the GTD Pro lead fight alive and the #9 Porsche found its way back into the lead owing to Pilet’s strong pace, supposedly reviving the lost lead fight.

Towards the end, it emerged that they were not able to save enough fuel to make it to the end and so they conducted an extra pit stop for fuel, losing their GTD Pro lead.

They finished fourth out of five GTD Pros, and 10th in the combined field of GTDs.

At the end of it all, it was clear they put themselves on the back foot before the race even began.

Winner – #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport (GTP): Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet

The overall race winners rightfully earned their second GTP race victory this season, made special on home territory with a 1-2 team finish.

From Friday to Saturday, #7 Porsche 963 driver Matt Campbell had been the fastest driver and kept his form most crucially for a pole position, though the sibling GTP qualified just behind.

The race start for GTP was tricky and challenging, although Campbell’s major brake lock-up into Turn 1 gave the perfect chance for Mathieu Jaminet to take the lead. It was almost a repeat of Laguna Seca earlier this year, although the 1-2 was not lost by Porsche Penske on this occasion.

Despite the first two caution periods, the pair of Porsche LMDh cars swapped back and forth on the fastest outright lap, and made calculated moves when they first dealt with traffic par a few close calls.

Both Penske Porsches had not obeyed an instruction from race control during the second caution, thus Pipo Derani in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V Series.R took the lead.

Fortunately, due to the confident, arguably unrivaled pace from both Porsches, it was not too long before they were opportunistic as Derani locked-up into T1, and was passed by Felipe Nasr followed by Tandy.

In a close and heated manner, the two Porsches fought for the lead though maintaining position.

The lead change occurred when they individually pitted with approximately 46 minutes remaining, and the #6 took over the lead as they exited the pit lane.

As the #7 locked-up on cold brakes, Tandy had the advantage of track position over the sibling Porsche from Lap 80, eventually taking the chequered flag on Lap 113.

Most importantly, this has boosted the #6’s title chances, as they jumped to third in the standings on 2455 points, as the leading #31 sits closely ahead on 2460.

Loser – #70 Inception Racing (GTD): Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe

At the previous round, the GT Challenge at VIR, the #70 faced misfortune from a pit stop infringement; this time, misfortune came in the form of rear-right contact from the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo, which triggered a puncture.

As this took place from T13 into T14, Schandorff limped from that final corner which leads onto the start-finish straight, too far to enter the pit lane which was at T13.

He limped back round into the pits for their crew to repair, an unexpected turn in their race narrative after they were en route for a GTD podium finish.

With an hour remaining, the team persevered to make it to the end, though finishing 16th was not on the cards after their initial climb from eighth (grid) position.

Their McLaren 720S GT3 EVO has demonstrated solid pace throughout the past few races, even though it has not been able to appear through their finishing results.

Paul Miller Racing already wrapped up the GTD title, so the target for the #70 will be a podium finish at Petit Le Mans next month, without any drama.

Winner – #57 Winward Racing (GTD): Russell Ward and Philip Ellis

The team has encountered a challenging 2023 season, where they seem uncompetitive and unable to fight for the GTD championship.

This was their first IMSA GTD race win since the GT Challenge at VIR last year, which features GT cars only round.

Fifth at Long Beach marked their highest finishing position prior to the Battle on the Bricks, and so their win after a dramatic sprint race was a refreshing sight.

As team principal and driver at Winward, Ward qualified the Mercedes-AMG GT3 fifth on the grid after setting a 1:23.878, eight-hundredths away from Snow’s pole time.

He started the race 10th in the combined classification of the GTD Pro and GTD classes, thus making it a tall order to make up places during the opening laps.

After running a solid opening stint, Ellis jumped into the #57 and remained until the end. All was feisty in the midfield of GTD, including an unintentional knock into an LMP3 which was sent into a half spin.

Ellis’ main rival was Loris Spinelli in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, who demonstrated strong form with an eager, if not aggressive determination to take back the lead when he momentarily lost it in their scrap.

The pair fought it out, until when they approached Turn 11 and Spinelli positioned himself with a defensive line, which compromised his trajectory around the sharp left-hander, and ran wide to the grass, which gave Ellis a perfect chance to slide by and hold the lead until the chequered flag.

Loser – #24 BMW M Team RLL (GTP): Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus

It was a tale of two halves for BMW M Team RLL, and the #24 M Hybrid V8 continued its rough form of results at Indianapolis.

Whilst the sibling #25 is fighting for a championship title, the same cannot be said about the #24.

At the first corner, Eng made contact with Sebastien Boardais, a spur of unfortunate luck once again for the yellow #01 Cadillac.

Only minor damage was incurred given the low-speed circumstances, however starting in P6 meant that the opening laps were intended to make up places that limited them as the best qualifying BMW GTP.

After just nine racing laps, Eng pitted due to electrical reliability issues, and continued to nurse them until two later pit stops when it was resolved.

By this point, they were far behind their competition and the two drivers simply continued their way to the chequered flag, 10 laps down from the leader and in 40th position overall.

Given the test at Indianapolis earlier in the year in which a BMW LMDh topped the day, this race result was lesser than the team expected, and put them behind their competitors on the grounds of reliability issues which are still prevalent towards the end of this maiden GTP season.

Petit Le Mans next month will be their one and only chance to claim their first podium spot in their debut season, with the 10-hour season finale expected to be demanding for all teams and drivers.

Winner – #11 TDS Racing (LMP2): Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen

The #11 Oreca 07-Gibson duo find themselves as winners both on the basis that they had triumphed in the LMP2 category, and more importantly surpassed the #52 for the championship lead from a highly stimulating race at the Brickyard.

Seven Orecas took to the fight in LMP2, although the #18 Era Motorsport’s Dwight Merriman and the #20 High Class Racing fell back in their own dramas.

The #52 PR1 Mathiasen drivers of Ben Keating and Paul Loup Chatin are a strong combination claiming a podium and a win so far, undoubtedly setting the benchmark in the category as the team to beat from qualifying.

Realistically speaking, three other rivals could challenge them: the #8 Tower Motorsports, the #11, and #35 TDS Racing.

Unsurprisingly, in a category where ‘amateur’ drivers (with the other driver a professional – like Mikkel Jensen, Peugeot Sport Hypercar driver) took qualifying duties, Ben Keating claimed pole position for the third time in this season.

Thomas qualified the #11 third behind the #04, setting a time almost seven-tenths behind Keating, yet ahead of the other #35 TDS Racing entry.

The standings in LMP2 were relatively close, as the #52 led on 1345 points before the Brickyard weekend.

The #11 was just 45 points behind, and so they fell into third place post-qualifying, because of the #04’s grid spot in P2.

Whilst the #11 were not necessarily hindered by this, it demonstrated the competition is fierce in LMP2, and all four of those LMP2 top-qualifiers were hungry for a win which would result in the championship lead prior to Petit Le Mans.

The category’s lead fight ran quiet with GTP as the main talking point, but it emerged that the #11 maintained proximity to the leading #52, admittedly assisted by the caution periods.

One major talking point was Jensen and his race pace, which was simply unrivaled by any other LMP2.

His fastest race lap of 1:16.619 (compared to Keating’s 1:17.950 pole lap) was an indicator of how he managed to assert consistent, strong lap times during his stint (during the second half of the race), whilst dealing with surrounding lapped traffic (and being lapped by GTPs).

In the final hour, fuel saving was a key factor as the LMP2s played their risk over how early they could pit, and how long a final stint to the finish they could do, with over 55 minutes remaining.

Louis Deletraz of the #8 brought the heat against the pace of the #11, and pitted the earliest and held the lead.

It soon emerged he was significantly fuel-saving, which overridden the objective of quicker average pace. The #11 and the #8 juggled the lead beforehand in the race, but it was now the #11 who pitted slightly later which indicated TDS Racing timed the final pit stop to perfection.

Jensen’s average pace and mistake-free outing had got the #11 easily passed Deletraz, and finished in first position; both in the race and LMP2 championship classification.

After the Battle on the Bricks, the points stand on 1680 for the #11 and 1640 for the #52.

This relentless championship fight will continue at Petit Le Mans, from qualifying to the race, by the end of which will crown an LMP2 champion.

Porsche have locked out the front row for tomorrow’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Matt Campbell ahead of Mathieu Jaminet.

Campbell set a 1:13.672 to claim pole in the #7 Porsche 963, with Jaminet a tenth and half behind in the sister #6 Porsche.

The two red and white were quick all session, but it was Gianmaria Bruni in the customer #99 Proton Porsche 963 who set the initial pace. However, Campbell soon beat him, and was the first driver into the 1:13s.

Jaminet soon followed through to go second, but the Frenchman couldn’t quite beat his Kiwi teammate all session. Tom Blomqvist did briefly take second with a few minutes to go, but Jaminet responded and also got into the 1:13s, following his Porsche teammate through.

Blomqvist, in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06, had to settle for third, just under two tenths adrift of Campbell and only 0.040 slower than Jaminet.

Fourth was Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, making it three manufacturers in the top 4. The veteran Frenchman took his time to set his lap, only grabbing fourth on his penultimate lap but failing to improve by the necessary amount — under a tenth of a second — to take third away from Blomqvist.

Ricky Taylor claimed fifth, onboard the #60 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06, while the two BMWs, with Philip Eng and Nick Yelloly at the wheel, could only manage sixth and seventh. Eng was the faster of the two, 0.498 slower than Campbell in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with his teammate just 0.003 slower in the sister #25 BMW.

Ben Keating claimed pole in LMP2, with the American car dealer setting a 1:17.950, the only driver to make it into the 1:17s.

The #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson driver was quickest all through the session, with Keating at one point just 0.002 faster than George Kurtz in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca 07-Gibson, with Keating’s initial lap being a 1:18.388.

In LMP3, Bjorn Garg was quickest, at the wheel of the #29 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320. The American-Indian driver set a 1:20.513, just 11 thousandths of a second faster than his teammate, Nolan Siegel, in the sister #30 Jr III car.

However, midway into the LMP2/LMP3 session, Gar Robinson, driving the #74 Riley Ligier JS P320, crashed heavily into the tyres on the road course section of the speedway. While the driver was okay and got out of the car under his own steam, this caused a halt in proceedings and a red flag while the Ligier was extracted from the tyre barriers and placed onto a flatbed truck.

When the session resumed there were 2 minutes and 20 seconds added to the clock — enough to do an outlap and a single flying lap.

Keating subsequently improved from his initial lap before the red flag to set his pole lap time, while Kurtz couldn’t improve further. This put Keating 0.440 ahead of the tech entrepreneur, with Steven Thomas third in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, a further 0.233 down.

With Jr III taking the top two spots in LMP3, third fell to Orey Fidani in the #13 AWA Duqueine D08, over 1.1 seconds away from Siegel in second.

In the two GTD classes, GTD Pro and GTD, Madison Snow took the overall pole for Paul Miller Racing, with the #1 BMW M4 GT3 driver setting a 1:23.075. 

The American set the time early on in the session, before halfway, and no one in either of the two GT3 classes could beat him. This means he not only has the most poles of anyone in the GT classes, but the most pole of anyone in the series this year.

Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth initially held GTD Pro pole, setting a 1:23.354 by the halfway mark in the session, but Klaus Bachler pipped him in the #9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R, with the German lapping the Indianapolis road course in 1:23.140 to take class pole — although it’s only a front row start as Snow was fractionally quicker. 

Jules Gounon also went faster than Hawksworth, with the Frenchman, in the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG GT3 second in GTD Pro and third amongst both classes. He was 0.150 off Bachler at the line. Hawksworth rounded out the top 3 in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, 0.055 off Gounon.

Second in GTD but sixth overall in the combined GT classes was Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Patrick Gallagher, in the #96 Turner Motorsportr BMW M4 GT3, was third and seventh in the combined class.

André Lotterer has officially confirmed that his career in both Formula E and single-seater racing in general is over, with the German set to prioritise his Porsche commitments in the World Endurance Championship.

After spending the past 26 years in single-seater racing, Lotterer feels that the time is now right to embark on a new adventure, meaning that, as expected, Andretti Formula E have a new driver to find for season 10.

Lotterer’s departure from Formula E was known for a little while, with reigning Formula 2 Champion Felipe Drugovich having been the favourite for the seat. However, Nissan departee Norman Nato is now reportedly leading the chase for one of the best cockpits on the grid.

Whilst season nine was bitterly disappointing for Lotterer, he’s enjoyed a glittering single-seater career, which started by claiming the Formula BMW Junior Championship in 1998. He was victorious again in 1999, this time in the Formula BMW ADAC series. His next title came in Japan in 2006, when he claimed his first of two Super GT titles, the other coming in 2009.

The 41-year-old spent a significant amount of time racing in Japan, both in Super GT and in the Formula Nippon series, which became known as Super Formula in 2013. He narrowly missed out on the championship several times, but was victorious in 2011.

Prior to his move to Porsche, Lotterer was a key part of Audi’s WEC programme, to the extent that he won the Le Mans 24 Hours twice with the German manufacturer. Lotterer won at Le Mans with Audi in back-to-back years, in 2011 and 2012. He was also part of the winning team of the WEC in 2012, Lotterer’s most recent title triumph.

In 2014, Lotterer made his one and only Formula 1 start for Caterham at the Belgian Grand Prix, although it ended in retirement on the opening lap due to an electrical problem.

The Duisburg-born driver made the switch to Formula E in season four (2017/18) with Techeetah and claimed two podiums in his rookie campaign. He remained with the side for season five, with the addition of DS. Lotterer claimed a further two podiums and his first pole position, which came in Rome.

Season six saw him switch to the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, where he stayed for three seasons. In that time, the German achieved four podiums and one pole position, before moving to Andretti for the start of the Gen3 era. 2023 was miserable for Lotterer, who salvaged just five top-10 finishes.

He was nevertheless a terrific competitor who was often one of the hardest drivers to overtake, something Formula E will remember him for. Lotterer took to social media to reveal that his single-seater career is over, whilst he also shared how “extremely grateful” he is to have competed in the all-electric series.

“Got some news to share with you. It’s time for me to close a 26 year chapter of single seater racing!” Lotterer revealed on Instagram.

“I have decided not to race anymore in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to fully focus on my challenge with @porschepenskemotorsport team to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans (for the 4th time) and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“It has been a great ride racing in Formula BMW & Formula Renault to Formula 3, Champ Car, Formula Nippon, Super Formula, Formula 1 and finally the Formula E family which I joined at the start of Season 4 back in 2017.

“I would like to thank the people that helped me join this innovative and exciting Championship; Leo Thomas, Julian & Alexander Jakobi, JEV & the Techeetah team! The adventures together were great! A big thanks to TAG Heuer Porsche FE too who gave me the opportunity to lead the team into their Formula E debut in Season 6!

“Last but not least, my engineer Fabrice Roussel who has shown amazing support since the beginning and all the way through the three Formula E teams, and the Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team for trusting me during Season 9.

“I would like to personally thank Alejandro Agag, his team & the FIA for creating Formula E, it has been a fantastic journey and you have changed many of our lives. Formula E has been the most challenging and fun Championship I have competed in!

“I am extremely grateful & proud to have raced in Formula E, promoting all the sustainable technologies and for meeting the amazing people in this paddock, a few of which have become my best friends today.

“Thank you all for the amazing support all those years.”

German fashion giants Hugo Boss have confirmed that they won’t be extending their deal with Formula E for a seventh season, in order to “focus only on Formula 1”.

The news comes following several reports that the brand is close to being named as the new title sponsor of Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri, who are set to undergo a complete rebrand for 2024.

It comes as a huge blow to Formula E, given that Hugo Boss has been a strong partner since season four (2017/18), leaving the all-electric series to find a new key sponsor in very little time. The fashion brand were one of the sport’s title sponsors for the past six campaigns and were key to their VIP hospitality.

Formula E’s VIP area was previously known as the ‘Boss E-Motion Club’, but this will need to be renamed ahead of the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix in January.

There is some uncertainty over the state of Hugo Boss’ relationship with the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team following their exit of the sport, as they’re a sponsor of the Stuttgart-based outfit. Hugo Boss’ presence in the Formula E paddock was significant and will certainly be missed in season 10, with the company stating that it’s “been a great partnership”.

“We can confirm that our contract as a partner of Formula E will expire at the end of this season. It has been a great partnership for us and together with Porsche we have delighted a large number of fans worldwide over the years,” a spokesperson for the company told Motorsport-Magazin.com.

Hugo Boss’ exit from Formula E is purely to direct all their attention onto F1, which is set to be the “only” series they’ll focus on going forwards. The brand only returned to F1 last season with Aston Martin, having left the championship in 2017 to move over to Formula E.

Their priorities have since changed again though, with their sudden departure coming right when the rumours linking them to Red Bull and AlphaTauri are at their peak.

“Hugo Boss is realigning its existing commitments in sport and we will focus only on Formula 1 in the future,” the spokesperson added.

After missing out on both Formula E championships in season nine, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team must solve their one-lap performance woes before season 10 gets underway, or face another year of having too much work to do.

Following the Diriyah double-header all the way back in January, it would’ve been almost impossible to imagine that Pascal Wehrlein and Porsche would finish fourth in their respected championships, given how dominant the pair looked in the opening rounds.

With Wehrlein having finished no lower than second in the opening three E-Prixs, the German was quickly labelled as the title favourite, whilst Porsche were seen as a likely runaway winner of the Constructors’ Championship. If it weren’t for their miserable qualifying performances, this probably would’ve been the case.

Wehrlein’s and António Félix da Costa’s campaigns were overshadowed somewhat by Porsche’s issues in the group stage of qualifying, which cost both drivers on several occasions.

The side’s disappointing performance over a single lap wasn’t actually too big of a concern in the opening rounds, mostly because the other powertrain suppliers were still figuring out how to extract the most from the Gen3 machinery.

Because of this, Wehrlein and Da Costa were able to qualify badly yet still finish towards the front, due to Porsche’s remarkable energy efficiency right from the get-go in Mexico City. This was seen in Da Costa’s case in Cape Town, where he stormed through the field to claim victory after starting in P13.

Seeing the Porsches cruise through the field with ease in the opening rounds was truly something to behold, given that they’d really been a sleeping giant in Formula E since they joined the series.

However, something changed from Berlin onwards, as neither Da Costa or Wehrlein were suddenly able to finish in the leading places after qualifying in the midfield.

The opening race in London was the only exception, as Da Costa initially finished second after recovering from P17 on the grid. He was later slapped with a three-minute time penalty which is going to the FIA Court of Appeal.

Once the likes of Jaguar and Stellantis had figured out how to be more efficient, Wehrlein and Da Costa struggled to make the same progress. The only way they could storm through the field was by using more energy, something which in itself took away their efficiency advantage, leaving them in no-man’s land.

Porsche all of a sudden were not able to score really big points, with Wehrlein having claimed just won victory – he won from third on the grid in Jakarta R1 – from Diriyah onwards. This seriously hurt the team in both championships, as they quickly went from being comfortable leaders, to desperate chasers.

Despite their best efforts, they just couldn’t get the car to work over one-lap, leaving both drivers with too much work to do. None of the Jaguar powered drivers had this issue, as the I-TYPE 6 was consistently quick and efficient, giving Jaguar TCS Racing and Envision Racing the best of both worlds, significantly helping Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans.

Porsche’s powertrain was by no means bad and was arguably still the best package when it came to the races, as proven by Porsche customer team Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who claimed the title thanks to a record-breaking 11 podiums across the 16 rounds.

Dennis was the only Porsche-powered driver able to consistently progress into the duels, something he did 11 times. Of those 11 times Dennis featured in the duels, he progressed to the final on six occasions.

Porsche didn’t even make 11 duel appearances as a team, with Wehrlein managing just seven duel appearances, whilst Da Costa progressed from the group stage just twice. It resulted in several race finishes in the sixth to eighth range, something which saw Wehrlein and Porsche lose the lead of their respected championships as Dennis, Cassidy and Evans were all claiming regular podiums.

Qualifying is clearly what’s stopping the factory outfit from winning the championship, something they probably would’ve done in 2023 had they progressed to the duels more often. They’ll be encouraged by the fact that Dennis made so many duel appearances on his way to the title, proving that the Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 does have the capability to perform over one-lap.

Porsche’s big dilemma is that so little can be changed for next season, with new powertrains not allowed to be introduced until season 11 (2025). The only thing which they can do to try and unlock the same one-lap performance that Dennis boasted all season, is by making changes to their software.

This comes at a cost though, as by making changes to their software, they risk worsening their leading energy efficiency. It gives them something to experiment at least in pre-season testing at the end of next month, as qualifying is really the only area where they’re lacking significant performance to their rivals.

If the Stuttgart-based team can solve their qualifying woes before season 10 gets underway in January, then perhaps they’d even be seen as the title favourites.

A final decision over António Félix da Costa’s London E-Prix penalty will be made by the FIA International Court of Appeal, after FIA stewards rejected an initial appeal made by the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team.

It’s been almost a month since the 2022/23 Formula E season concluded, yet we’re no closer to knowing the exact final standings in both championships. This is due to an ongoing battle between Porsche and the FIA, following a controversial penalty which was given to Da Costa in the opening London race at the end of July.

Da Costa was slapped with an unfathomable three-minute time penalty because of his front right Hankook tyre being below the minimum legal pressure. The penalty demoted the Portuguese driver from second to P16, a result which has impacted the driver and the team.

Porsche and the season six Champion immediately argued that the tyre pressure was low due to hitting a piece of debris, rather than a deliberate attempt at cheating. On August 11, the stewards received notice that Porsche officially requested a review of the penalty.

As things stand, Da Costa is down as having finished ninth in the Drivers’ Championship; however, if the penalty is revoked then he’ll be promoted to fifth. It’s a similar story for Porsche, who will move ahead of their customer team Avalanche Andretti and into third in the Constructors’ Championship, if their appeal is successful.

The chances of their appeal being successful appear to be weakening, after their first opportunity to have it overturned was dismissed.

A virtual meeting took place on Tuesday, which included Porsche Team Principal Florian Modlinger, Porsche Team Manager Amiel Lindesay, FIA technical delegate Laurent Arnaud, FIA Head of Sporting Matters Pablo Marti and Andretti Team Principal Roger Griffiths. Griffiths was present due to the implications an overturn of Da Costa’s penalty would have on them.

According to e-formula.news, Porsche argued that they are responsible for the safety of their cars and insisted that Da Costa’s car was, in fact, safe at all times.

However, it was deemed by the stewards that the German manufacturer didn’t present any “significant and relevant” new information, with the team having known during the race that Da Costa’s front right tyre was below the legal minimum tyre pressure. As Porsche were aware, a defective sensor couldn’t be proven.

As the stewards felt that Porsche didn’t present any new information which wasn’t known at the time of the incident, their right of review was dismissed, meaning that for the time being the penalty stands.

The FIA stated: “There is no significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned. The Petition is therefore dismissed.”

Porsche will now take their case to the Court of Appeal, with a hearing date yet to be announced. It means that the final outcome of both championships might not be officially known for several weeks or even months.