DS Techeetah, Holland, Testing, Registrations: the latest news from Formula E

DS and Techeetah make their partnership official:

DS Automobiles and Techeetah have confirmed they have formed a partnership that will allow the Chinese team to run two DS E-Tense FE 19 cars next season. The team’s official name will therefore be DS Techeetah Formula E Team from the next season.

Virgin, which until now was a partner of DS, has confirmed on its part the end of the partnership between the two parties after three years of collaboration. The team’s two current drivers, Jean-Éric Vergne and André Lotterer, are expected to logically be retained for at least one more year. Both have already tested next year’s single-seater, just like the team’s development driver, James Rossiter.

Although nothing is official yet, the team is expected to have joint technical management, under the leadership of Thomas Chevaucher from DS and Leo Thomas from Techeetah. This theoretically puts the team, champion of the Drivers’ standings thanks to Jean-Éric Vergne, in a good position to defend its title next season.

“We are extremely happy to announce that we are partnering with @DS_Official from Season Five onwards in the @FIAFormulaE championship. Full details will follow on the 1 Oct but until then, join us in welcoming DS to the TECHEETAH family 🐆⚡ #PowerFocusBalance // #FormulaE pic.twitter.com/T3NkahhXjQ” — TECHEETAH (@TecheetahFE) July 23, 2018

Translate: Gary Holland joins Dragon as team manager:

Gary Holland joins the championship after two and a half years with the Jota Sport team, which has allowed Audi to win so many times in endurance racing, including the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. He will take over from David Stubbs, who joined the team last year from Techeetah. The new team director will work closely with Andy Hoadley, with whom he has worked in the past. Also noteworthy is the recruitment of former McLaren and Williams engineer, Jakob Andreasen, as director of engineering.

The tests of the second-generation single-seater are progressing:

The Formula E teams are currently running their new single-seaters before the deadline set for October 1st. The Nissan and Jaguar teams recently shared the Calafat track with Sébastien Buemi and Mitch Evans at the wheel. Over at NIO, Luca Filippi also drove on the Spanish circuit while his teammate Oliver Turvey is still recovering from his hand injury. The Dragon team is also conducting its tests but is considering moving to its headquarters located in Varano, Italy, for further testing. It’s Jose Maria Lopez and Maximilian Günther who are responsible for these tests.

On the Mahindra side, testing is entrusted to Pipo Derani who made a very strong impression. Finally, Antonio Félix Da Costa and Bruno Spengler shared the wheel for BMW during three days of testing on the French circuit of Miramas. Each manufacturer has 15 days of testing, with an additional seven days for Venturi which will supply HWA next year, as well as Virgin which has not yet reached an agreement with Audi.

The final official tests ahead of the fifth season of Formula E will take place from October 16 to 19 at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. This collective session will be open to the public for two days and will include a break on October 18. This should be an opportunity to test the new race format proposed for the next season.

11 teams officially registered for the 2018-2019 season:

The FIA has officially registered the teams participating in season five of Formula E, which will unsurprisingly see a record number of 11 teams competing. The list of participants is as follows: Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team, BMW I Andretti Motorsport, Dragon, DS Techeetah, Virgin Racing, HWA, Mahindra Racing, NIO Formula E Team, Nissan e.dams, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, and Venturi Formula E Team.

This concludes our update on Formula E news. Stay tuned to MotorsInside for more on the discipline.