The newly-signed DS Penske partnership has sparked the FormulaE off-season into action with the signings of Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne. But how did the new partnership come about and what will happen to Techeetah? JBLAutosport explains:
A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but a Techeetah can have them forcibly altered. One of Formula E’s most successful teams, with two teams’ championships and three drivers’ titles to its name, the Chinese-owned squad has lost its DS Automobiles partnership and powertrain supply to Dragon Penske Autosport. The American team hence becomes known as DS Penske for the foreseeable future, as Techeetah’s future remains distinctly unclear. was long in the making.
But the Techeetah side then began to run out of money. SECA was not willing to put the money up as it had done at the start, and was looking for investors or sponsors to cover the self-inflicted shortfall. DS, meanwhile, seemingly had no designs on operating its own race team - but ended up covering a lot of the costs in the final two seasons to keep the team going, including driver contracts and many of the team’s other outgoings.
That’s where Dragon Penske comes in, as the ex-IndyCar team began its Formula E journey in competitive form in the opening pair of seasons before becoming one of the traditional backmarker entities. After six years of running its own powertrains, Dragon’s plan was to ditch its own-brand concoction and bring German engineering giant Bosch in to develop a powertrain for the Gen3 era. That deal then fell through on the eve of the 2021-22 season, leaving Dragon needing to find a new partner.
In the context of Vandoorne’s Formula E career, a manufacturer contract gives him not only the security that every racing driver craves, but also the opportunity to try other categories. His new team-mate Vergne has found being part of the DS family also grants access to the other Stellantis brands, and the Frenchman is part of the Peugeot Hypercar line-up.
For Vergne, the move to DS Penske is effectively a continuation of the situation he’s raced in for the past four seasons. The engineers and the management will be the same, and so will the overall environment that he has become accustomed to among his most successful years in Formula E. With no apparent desire to move away from DS, particularly with his Peugeot WEC role supplementing that, the Parisian represents vital continuity.
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