Esteban Gutiérrez replaces Ma Qing Hua at Techeetah
Mexican driver Esteban Gutiérrez, who lost his starting place in the Haas F1 Team this year, has already found a new position. This will be in Formula E, alongside Jean-Éric Vergne in the Chinese Techeetah team.
Esteban Gutiérrez, who was not retained by the Haas team in Formula 1 in favor of Kevin Magnussen, will make his Formula E debut at home during the Mexico E-Prix. The information, which had been anticipated for a few weeks, was confirmed by the Techeetah team.
The former Sauber driver will replace Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua, who hasn’t scored any points since his debut in Formula E during the Paris race with the Aguri team, which has since been acquired by Techeetah. However, Ma will remain the reserve driver for the Chinese team. He will team up with another former Formula 1 driver, the Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne. Initially, Gutiérrez had entered discussions with Jay Penske’s team, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, without success.
Esteban Gutiérrez is happy to embark on a new adventure: “I am very grateful to join Techeetah, a team with genuine competitiveness. After four years of an incredible experience in F1, I am now going to make a leap into the future of motorsport. I am particularly excited about my first race at the Mexico E-Prix. I hope I can put on a good show for the fans at home.”
Ivan Yim, director of Techeetah, is enthusiastic about welcoming the Mexican: « We are excited to welcome Esteban to Techeetah. We will have prepared Esteban as well as possible for his home race. With the passionate Mexican fans waiting for us in the stadium section, the Techeetah team is highly motivated with its new line-up of drivers. It’s a tough series for the drivers with a condensed one-day format, but with stability in the team, we are ready to start this next step to continue building the Techeetah team in its first season. »
Gutiérrez’s contract covers the remaining nine races to be contested this season but possibly also the 2017-2018 season.
