Photo: Nissan

Formula E’s annual rookie-only practice session takes place at this weekend’s Miami E-Prix, and a group of junior single-seater stars will be taking part.

The most high-profile of that group is 22-year-old Dennis Hauger, the IndyCar-bound reigning Indy Nxt champion. He will drive for Andretti Global, the team he joined last year and dominated Indy Nxt with.

In 2024, the Norwegian drove for Porsche in FE’s rookie test which took place in Berlin.

Lola Yamaha Abt is calling on the services of Hugh Barter again. He drove for Maserati in FE’s rookie test in 2023, then for the Abt-operated Lola Yamaha team in 2025. Barter was 19th in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship, fifth in Indian Formula 4’s 2024 season then won nine races in the Ultimate Cup Series’ Formula Cup for FRegional cars last year but came fourth in the standings after missing two rounds.

Having joined Barter in Abt’s garage at the 2025 rookie test, Alessandro Giusti joins Jaguar for the 2026 rookie practice session. The Williams junior was 10th in the 2025 FIA F3 Championship as rookie with MP Motorsport, and will stay with the team for a sophomore campaign.

DS Penske is one of the few FE teams with their own driver development programme, and its protege Nikita Bedrin gets another call-up after contesting the 2025 rookie test. He primarily competed in FRegional from 2023 to ’25, but made an F3 cameo and will race in GB3 this year.

Nissan will run two familiar faces in Miami, Gabriele Mini and Abbi Pulling, who joined Nissan thanks to the Japanese manufacturer Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance.

Two years ago, when both were juniors of the Renault-owned Alpine Formula 1 team, they got their first FE mileage with Nissan. Mini did the rookie test, while Pulling drove in the women’s test which was a day of FE’s pre-season testing.

Last June she became Nissan’s rookie test and simulator driver since June 2025 in a multi-year deal, and therefore drove in the rookie and women’s tests. Mini was fastest in the 2025 rookie test, and did the rookie practice session in Jeddah.

Mini is still an Alpine junior and will race for MP in Formula 2 in 2026, having come 13th in the championship as a rookie with Prema last year. Pulling is embarking on a second season in GB3 with Rodin Motorsport, hoping to improve on 10th in the 2025 standings. She was fourth in the FRegional-spec and all-female W Series back in 2022.

FE’s junior single-seater contingent in Miami is completed by Chloe Chambers at Mahindra. She has contested the past two women’s tests, driving for Andretti in 2024 and then Mahindra in 2025, and has spent the last two years as a Campos Racing driver in the all-female and F4-spec F1 Academy series.

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Photo: Jaguar Racing

Jaguar has announced that reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli will drive one of its cars in next week’s Formula E rookie test in Berlin.

The 20-year-old Italian ended a winless streak in single-seaters of over four years last weekend by finishing first in Formula 2’s sprint race at Silverstone, and with a sixth place the next day he left the track fourth in the standings.

Fornaroli’s rookie F2 season has featured four other podium finishes and two pole positions already, while his title-winning FIA F3 campaign was built upon seven podium finishes and he claimed three podiums in the championship as a rookie in 2023.

The FE test will mark Fornaroli’s first time working with a team at single-seaters’ top level, since he is yet to be picked up by a driver development programme.

European Le Mans Series racer Jamie Chadwick, a race-winner in Indy Nxt last year, will drive Jaguar’s other car in Berlin. She drove for Jaguar in FE’s rookie test in 2020, in pre-season testing last year and then in the Jeddah E-Prix’s rookie practice session this February.

The entry list for the July 14 is completed by Hugh Barter and Alessandro Giusti at Lola Yamaha Abt.

Barter, 19, was runner-up in the French and Spanish Formula 4 championships in 2022, then leapt up to FIA F3 and came 19th in the 2023 standings.

For 2024 he stepped back down to F4, winning three of five races he entered in the Indian championship and coming fifth in the standings, and now he is racing Formula Regional cars in Ultimate Cup Series’ Formula Cup. At the halfway point of the season he has won seven out of nine races and is the points leader.

Giusti beat Barter to the 2022 French F4 title, then won five races across two FRegional European Championship campaigns. This year he stepped up to FIA F3, and sits eighth in the standings with two podiums.

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Photo: F1 Academy

Nissan will run Alpine juniors Sophia Floersch and Abbi Pulling in Formula E pre-season testing next week.

The test takes place at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit on November 4-7, and FE has decided that in a session on the final day teams will be required to have a woman in one of their cars.

The majority of teams have chosen two, including Nissan which is part of the same automotive group as Alpine.

Floersch has been racing in Formula 3 since 2018, and her best result in that time has been a seventh place achieved in the FIA F3 Championship’s feature race at Spa-Francorchamps last year. She came 29th in the standings this season.

She has experience of more powerful machinery from time spent in sportscar racing, having come 18th in the DTM and 13th in the World Endurance Championship’s LMP2 class three years ago. Floersch also has two European Le Mans Series podiums, and on Monday she took part in her first Indy Nxt test with HMD Motorsports.

Pulling reached Formula Regional earlier in her single-seater career, making the podium three times in the all-female W Series across 2021 and ’22.

Either side of that she has raced in Formula 4, winning a race en route to seventh in the British championship this year as a part-time entrant and also leading the 2024 season of the all-female F1 Academy series with seven victories.

Indy Nxt race-winner Jamie Chadwick will test for Jaguar, as she previously did in a 2020 rookie test. The three-time W Series champion is looking towards IndyCar for 2024 having finished seventh in her second season in Indy Nxt this year with Andretti, and will partner Ferrari-contracted sportscar racer Lilou Wadoux at Jaguar.

DS Penske will run Pulling’s fellow F4 racer Jessica Edgar in FE testing along with former W Series frontrunner Beitske Visser. Edgar claimed a podium in GB4 two years ago, and came eighth in F1 Academy last year with one win. She is currently 10th in the 2024 standings.

Lola Yamaha Abt has called up Miki Koyama, who moved on from single-seater racing this year. She was a Honda junior when racing in Japanese F4, spent two seasons racing in W Series and also appeared in FRegional Asian Championship events before a breakthrough FRegional Japanese Championship campaign in 2022 with Toyota backing. She won the title against limited opposition, claiming seven race victories along the way, and moved into sportscars via Super GT’s GT300 class last year.

She did make one single-seater outing in 2023, contesting the F4 races that supported the Macau Grand Prix.

Lena Buhler, who finished second in F1 Academy last year, will test for Mahindra. She returned to Formula Regional Europe this year with ART Grand Prix but ended her campaign early with four rounds to go with a best finish of 22nd.

Reigning F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia and other drivers from the series were among those previously announced for the test.

Valencia Formula E women’s test line-up
Jaguar: Jamie Chadwick / Lilou Wadoux
Porsche: Marta Garcia / Gabriela Jilkova
DS Penske: Jessica Edgar / Beitske Visser
Nissan: Sophia Floersch / Abbi Pulling
Andretti: Chloe Chambers / Nerea Marti
Envision: Alisha Palmowski / Alice Powell
McLaren: Bianca Bustamante / Ella Lloyd
Maserati: Tatiana Calderon / Carrie Schreiner
Lola Yamaha Abt: Miki Koyama
Mahindra: Lena Buhler
Kiro Race Co: Simona de Silvestro

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Photo: Abt Motorsport

Formula 2 title contender Zane Maloney has secured a seat in Formula E next year with Lola Yamaha Abt.

German team Abt has been on the FE grid since the inaugural 2014-15 season, and was partnered with Audi for seven years. It then competed as Abt Cupra for the last two seasons and switched to Mahindra power, and for next year will run an all-new powertrain being developed jointly by Lola and Yamaha.

Sauber junior Maloney is currently third in the 2024 F2 standings with two rounds to go and won the first two races of what is his sophomore season. The Barbadian won the British Formula 4 title, came fourth in Formula Regional Europe and was FIA Formula 3 Championship runner-up before reaching F2 in 2023, at which point he became a Red Bull junior for one year.

He switched allegiance to Andretti and Sauber for 2024, acting as FE reserve driver for the former and F1 reserve driver for the latter. The 20-year-old was coy in recent discussions with media about his chances of racing in F1.

“I am delighted to be part of the Lola Yamaha Abt team and looking forward to this exciting challenge,” said Maloney.

“Although I already know the championship well, this is a completely new chapter for me, so working with such an experienced team, and alongside such a successful driver, is the perfect next step. I’ve followed and admired Lucas [di Grassi, his future team-mates]’s battles over the past seasons, including when he became champion. I’m sure that I will learn a lot from him and together we will push both ourselves and the development of the car forward.”

Abt’s CEO Thomas Biermaier added: “We are very much looking forward to having Zane as part of the team for season 11, and he has already brought a breath of fresh air during our first days working together. Giving young talent a chance and supporting them has been a strong tradition at Abt for many decades and that’s why it was clear to us that we would also
follow this path in FE.”

The 2024-25 FE season begins with one race in 2024, which takes place on December 7 in Sao Paulo. That clashes with F2’s finale at Yas Marina Circuit.

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Photo: McLaren

Several Formula E teams have selected junior single-seater stars to represent them in the rookie-only practice session at this week’s Misano E-Prix and next month’s rookie test in Berlin.

McLaren’s reserve driver Taylor Barnard has been called up to drive at Misano on April 12, which will be his second outing in a FE car. His first came with the team in pre-season testing last year, which prompted McLaren to sign him.

The 19-year-old came second in Formula Regional Middle East at the start of this year, and his main racing programme for 2024 is Formula 2. He currently sits a points-free 22nd in the standings three rounds into his rookie season.

“I am delighted that Taylor will be representing the McLaren FE team [in Misano],” said Ian James, McLaren’s FE team principal. “In his current role of reserve and development Driver, Taylor is an integral part of the team and has helped us improve our performance on track.

Barnard’s F2 rival Dennis Hauger will get his first taste of a FE car with Porsche in the Berlin test on May 13. The former Red Bull junior is in his third F2 season and has taken a win, a second, a third, a pole and a fastest lap from the first six races of the year. The 21-year-old is a title outsider, currently occupying a distant third place in the standings.

Abt Cupra meanwhile has put its faith in 19-year-old Formula 3 racer Tim Tramnitz for the rookie-only action in Misano and Berlin.

Fresh from finishing third in the FRegional European Championship last October, Tramnitz travelled to Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit to drive for Abt in FE pre-season testing. While he was not given a team role off the back of it, he impressed Abt enough to be called up again now.

“I am really looking forward to the Abt team and the FE test. The first few hours last year were already a lot of fun – and it’s always cool to sit in a race car,” said Tramnitz. “I especially like working with the engineers when we look at and analyse all the data, because it’s much more comprehensive than it is for me in F3. I can learn a lot and take a lot with me.”

Tramnitz is sixth in the FIA F3 Championship points table two rounds into his rookie season, with a podium coming in his second race.

As anticipated, Nissan will use its reserve driver Caio Collet at Misano. The 22-year-old Brazilian was 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup, a race-winner in the FIA F3 Championship in each of the last two years and is now racing in Indy Nxt. He finished seventh on his debut in St. Petersburg last month.

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Photo: Maserati MSG Racing

Formula 1 reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Robert Shwartzman are among the latest crop of drivers that have been announced as driving in Formula E’s rookie test in Berlin next week.

Reigning Formula 2 champion Drugovich and FIA Formula 3 racer Hugh Barter have been called up by the Monaco-based Maserati (the team which previously competed as Venturi).

Drugovich is currently a junior driver of the Aston Martin F1 team, and is employed as reserve driver for the team as well as fellow Mercedes engine customer McLaren.

“I can’t wait to get my first taste of the Maserati Tipo Folgore and Gen3 FE [car] in Berlin,” said Drugovich. “FE is a category that has always fascinated me, and it will be intriguing to experience the differences of a fully electric car in comparison to the single-seaters I’ve raced in recent seasons. Knowing that I will be playing an active role in the development of such an iconic brand, in its first season back in world championship motorsport, is a huge honour. I’m very excited.”

Barter meanwhile is currently embarking on his rookie F3 season and is 18th in the standings after two rounds. Last year he was runner-up in the French and Spanish Formula 4 championships.

“I would like to thank Maserati MSG Racing for giving me the opportunity to experience FE for the very first time,” said Barter.

“I’ve really enjoyed my experience in the simulator so far and I can’t wait to get out on the track in Berlin. Working closely with James, Edo and Max will be an invaluable learning experience for me, especially at this stage of my career.”

Shwartzman was FIA F3 champion in 2019, F2 runner-up in 2021 and is now Ferrari’s reserve driver. He is expected to drive for DS Penske (a merger of the Dragon Racing team with powertrain provider DS), although is yet to be announced.

Abt Cupra have called up local driver and Formula Regional racer Tim Tramnitz for the test. The 18-year-old was 15th in the European championship last year, and started 2023 by coming 20th in the Middle East championship.

“I am really looking forward to the rookie test in Berlin,” said Tramnitz. “The test came about at short notice through the mediation of the ADAC Sports Foundation with Motorsport Team Germany.

“Together with the Abt team, the foundation is helping me to get to Berlin on Sunday evening after my race in the FRegional European Championship in Imola, so that I am ready for action on Monday morning [April 24].”

Mahindra will utilise its reserve driver Jehan Daruvala, who is currently in his fourth F2 season and sits sixth in the standings after three rounds.

Other junior single-seater racers already confirmed for the test include Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist and F2’s Zane Maloney at Andretti Autosport, Alpine junior Victor Martins (Nissan) and F3 racers Luke Browning (McLaren) and Jonny Edgar (Envision Racing).

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Photos: Sam Bloxham

Nico Muller was with underdog teams through much of his single-seater career, but has shown his value to bigger operations in the DTM since. Now he’s got a second chance in FE with a title-winning team

The commencement of Formula E’s Gen3 era this weekend marks a fresh start for everyone in the championship, with a radically different car, new regulations and several new races on the calendar too.

With such change, there are several drivers who have earned second chances to race in FE. And one of those is Nico Muller.

The 30-year-old Swiss was a Dragon Racing driver for one-and-a-half seasons in FE before realising he had too many date clashes with his parallel DTM campaign and split with the underperforming team midway through the 2020-21 campaign.

In 18 races with the backmarker team he scored three times, one of those being the infamous Valencia E-Prix where most of the drivers reached the limit for usable energy before the race’s conclusion and Muller finished second.

During his rookie season, Muller had been considered by Audi Sport Abt to replace the sacked Daniel Abt, but his contract with Dragon removed him from contention for that drive.

Muller was desired because the team already knew how he good as he was, having run him in the DTM for four seasons already. His team-mate there was Robin Frijns, another driver Abt considered for FE, and the pair were close friends.

In fact the Frijns/Muller combination had already delivered 12 DTM wins and a lot of useful test miles in FE powertrain development for Audi Sport Abt, contributions which were not forgotten when the team returned to FE for this year with Mahindra power after a year on the sidelines following the exit of Audi from FE. The team now has both on its books in FE.

“There was some other options on the table, and you look at a few and in the end considering all factors, the decision for me was not let’s say very straightforward, but also not very difficult,” Muller tells Formula Scout.

“I know these guys very well, we’ve worked together successfully in this championship, and I know what they can do. In the end, in FE the cards will be reshuffled anyway for Gen3, so I think the most important thing is to have a team around you that you have full trust. And there I had zero doubts with Abt, so that’s why the decision wasn’t that difficult.”

Being team-mates with Frijns also attracted Muller to the seat, with Frijns having been a guest at his wedding shortly before his FE seat was announced.

“It’s going to be fun off-track for sure. On-track I hope it will also be fun. But we have to still make sure and work hard for it, because as a small team against those manufacturers it won’t be easy, that’s for sure. Keep it fun, but also successful, that is the goal.

“I think we have a very healthy working relationship: we are competitive and we want to beat the other one, but we still try to push the team forwards and we play open books, so that’s I think going to be an important factor going into the first season of Gen3 especially.”

Muller added he still has a point to prove in FE after his first stint in the series was cut short.

“That’s one of the big reasons why I want to go back. I’ve had the chance to test for Audi a couple of times, and I think I’ve shown there that the pace is clearly there. And then one-and-a-half seasons with lots of ups and downs with Dragon. I mean it was valuable experience, and even in tough times you grow probably more than in other events. It was pretty good. Good to have the chance now to prove that we can actually do it.”

Although Abt is now a customer team in FE, it was previously one of the series’ title-fighting manufacturer operations with Audio and in the DTM it is also considered one of the series’ heavyweights. However where Muller first proved himself as a driver was with underdog teams, making it to the level below F1 before switching to the DTM.

“It’s a good feeling [having the resources to compete at the front in a top team],” Muller explained. “You know that you can 100% rely on the team and them doing their job perfectly. So you can even more focus on what you have to do and to deliver. Only positives.”

But it’s driving for and winning with smaller teams such as Jenzer Motorsport in GP3 and Draco Racing in Formula Renault 3.5 that “I think made me the driver I am today”.

“Sometimes in times where you maybe have to put even more effort than others to achieve similar results, that’s what makes you better, and I’m very happy with how things went and very grateful for the opportunities I got. It’s perfect the way it is.”

Muller spent four years with Swiss team Jenzer, starting with two seasons in FR2.0 where he came 11th in the Eurocup, and then contesting the first two seasons of GP3. In his rookie campaign he won a reversed-grid race on his sixth start and later claimed a pole position and a feature race win to come third in the standings.

The second season was less successful, scoring considerably fewer points and coming fourth in the standings with one feature race win at Silverstone. Following that he joined Draco Racing, a team that had gone 21 races without finishing in the top five, to step up to FR3.5 for 2012.

Muller got one podium and came ninth in the points, while fellow rookie Frijns won the title with Fortec Motorsports. Staying in the series for a second year was more rewarding, winning from pole in Monaco and also winning at the Hungaroring en route to fifth in the standings, and Muller was then headed to the DTM with Audi’s Team Rosberg.

“I’ve had some early links to Audi, and they always did their young driver tests. I got invited to do one of those, and I managed to perform well there. And then that kind of gets you into the loop,” he recalls of his move to the series.

“Once there was a seat available, I kind of was their next choice. They were the ones giving me the first real opportunity in the world of professional motorsport, and still here with them so it’s I guess a good sign.”

Muller spent two DTM campaigns with Rosberg (and won the Nurburgring 24 Hours for Audi with W Racing Team) before his five-year spell with Abt, and then returned to Rosberg in 2021 as the series switched from touring cars to GT3 machines.

“Honestly I think they’ve done a very good job overall [changing it to GTs],” Muller says. “I think the quality of the 2022 field is proving that, the size of the field, the variety in the field.

“I think they’ve really managed to turn things around within even less than a year. It was a challenge to kind of regroup this whole championship after the change of technical regulations. I think the racing is exciting, sometimes it was slightly over the top, but overall I think the product is great and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

As Audi is not in FE anymore it means he can’t represent the brand there (and has actually terminated his Audi contract to reunite with his old team), although Abt has partnered with fellow Volkswagen Group company Cupra for 2023. And perhaps more excitingly, Audi has announced it will enter F1 in 2026.

“Exciting times at Audi for sure with them going to F1. Maybe not really directly for me that it is very interesting, because at the stage I am at in my career, 2026 is quite far along the way. It’s going to be exciting to see how that develops.”

Both Frijns and Muller are talents who arguably should have reached F1, based on how they maximised opportunities as much as their results, and Abt’s team principal Thomas Biermaier has no doubts about the ability of the pair.

“We were already in negotiations [with them] before we did the announcement [we would return to F3], and we are always in close contact with them. So we had in the early part of 2022, already some discussions,” Biermaier tells Formula Scout.

Photo: Audi

“Right now, they are really professional, but they also know that we are kind of family. That they can feel quite confident, this is also good for drivers, if they are relaxed in the head. And I think this was the reason why they came back to us.”

Due to Abt’s customer team status, it meant its two drivers had to wait longer than others on the grid to drive FE’s Gen3 car for the first time, but Biermaier says the team is working “like we were a manufacturer team” as “we are supporting Mahindra where we can, and currently we are working very close together with them”. He summed the relationship up with Abt’s powertrain provider as: “It’s a four-car team, and we want to have the best for the Mahindra car.”

Despite having a German team in FE, and potentially up to three German automotive manufacturers in F1 by 2026, the domestic scene is in an increasingly weaker position when it comes to being a route for drivers to go from karting to the top. The most recent hit has been the cancellation of the ADAC Formula 4 championship, and the DTM previously lost European Formula 3 and then W Series from its support bill.

“If I look backwards 15 years ago when we had F3 with the DTM as a support series, then Rosberg, Hamilton and di Grassi was driving there,” Biermaier reflects.

“So many, many drivers went through this road. Now from GT to F1 I think it’s very, very difficult.And motorsport in Germany is not the easiest thing currently, from the support and from everything, so it’s difficult. If young drivers are not being in a manufacturer programme, for them it’s quite difficult to get a seat in F1.

“We always [get approached by interested young drivers]. It’s important to give the young generation a chance. This is what how we do it now with Riccardo Feller in the DTM. He’s 22 years old, so we have some young drivers in our line-up. And young drivers are always welcome, we always try to give them a chance.”

Were it not for being “fully focused on the FE comeback and DTM”, Abt would be interested in contesting the DTM Trophy that currently supports the DTM and other young driver-focused series.

Such an expansion could have a big effect, as the pipelines between those two series is currently rather ineffective and even the DTM’s position as a platform for young drivers to then move on to greater things from has been weakened in recent years.

Abt and Muller reuniting in FE shows that performing in the DTM can still earn you a professional seat in single-seaters, and that some drivers don’t truly get to show their abilities until they reach motorsport’s top level.

The post The junior series underdog reuniting with a top team for a Formula E return appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: DTM / Malte Christians

Before the DTM’s switch from Class One touring cars to GT3 sportscars, Formula Scout spoke to series chairman Gerhard Berger about the impact of the DTM’s plans on young drivers. Now it’s time to review them

With a grid of 30 drivers including five former Formula 1 racers and champions of Formula E, Super Formula, GT racing, GP2 and the DTM itself, you can’t bash the quality of the grid in the first season of the touring car-come-sportscar series.

But for a championship that has previously acted as a launchpad to F1 and top prototype sportscar seats, did the DTM’s new GT3 look work for young drivers in 2021?

In late 2020, Formula Scout asked exactly that and got a blueprint of what to expect from Gerhard Berger, chaiman of the series promoter ITR, ex-F1 driver and DTM rookie Robert Kubica and one of the series’ young stars Ferdinand Habsburg.

They expected three things. The first was that the new GT4-spec DTM Trophy series would be just as efficient a platform for connecting drivers to professional motorsport as the FIA European Formula 3 championship that sat on the support bill for many years before it, and that it would provide chances for drivers that wouldn’t have the budget for a European F3 successor.

The second was Berger and the drivers were convinced the DTM would maintain its level of professionalism despite the end of direct manufacturer involvement, and therefore continue to attract ex-F1 drivers off the back of that, and finally that the ultra competitiveness of the series would ensure it maintained a huge worldwide fanbase. Two of those expectations were pretty much bang on the money.

The DTM Trophy did not turn into a DTM feeder series overnight, in part due to Berger’s aggressive behind-the-scenes work in the winter of 2020 of attracting the biggest names he could to the mother series for the all-important 2021 season.

Not a single DTM Trophy driver found a DTM seat, and 2020 champion Tim Heinemann – a protege of ‘Mr DTM’ Bernd Schneider – ended up doing a half-season of the support series in 2021 as well as races in Germany’s other sportscar series.

One party Berger pursued with intent was Red Bull, a brand he has a long relationship with having once part-owned one of its F1 teams, and he convinced it to enter.

Red Bull motorsport consultant Dr Helmut Marko’s own RSM Marko team raced in the DTM in the 1980s before moving to International Formula 3000, and he kept his old friend Berger happy in 2021 by entering two Ferrari 488 GT3 Evos run by crack Italian team AF Corse and placing Red Bull Racing reserve driver Alex Albon and Formula 2 rookie Liam Lawson in the two seats. When Albon had to prioritise F1, SF champion Nick Cassidy took his place.

The cars were equipped with driver aids such as ABS, and standing starts were dropped for rolling ones. Two important details that made DTM in 2021 even further detached from that of single-seaters, other all-professional sportscar series and the series’ own past.

Michelin became the new tyre supplier, bringing the DTM in line with other GT3 series and further away from its unique place in racing, and ITR created its own Balance of Performance in addition to the existing success ballast.

These details appealed to privateer teams that were able to enter thanks to lower running costs and the dropping of the need to be a manufacturer-tied team, but didn’t make it any more enticing for professional drivers who could race elsewhere or young drivers wanting to prove themselves against some of the best. But the DTM maintained two key selling points: a name that attracts sponsors, and only having one driver per car (unlike other GT3 series) to attract fans and top drivers.

As Thomas Biermaier, chief executive officer of the Abt team, said: “The name is one of our biggest assets that we have, and this is the reason why we like to race in DTM”.

Haupt Racing Team’s CEO Ulrich Fritz expanded on the latter point: “We run businesses, in the end we need to find a way to finance everything, and there I think DTM has a quite good package, a good unique selling point as well, because there are not so many GT3 championships where you can just have one driver on a car. Which helps to sell it.”

The DTM’s F1 graduates (2000-present)

The leaders of teams using five different manufacturers of car sat down prior to the 2021 season finale to talk to media about how the series was being run, and the general mood was there was a lot of collaboration between rivals in shaping the future.

The new-look DTM had also resonated well in Italy, with German brands now joined on track by Ferrari and Lamborghini, and the one-driver format appealing to those who previously ignored the series for being German.

Teams from the Italian brands were the most enthusiastic about another new-for-2021 feature: the Junior classification.

Drivers born in 1999 or later were eligible for Junior honours, and Lawson dominated against Sheldon van der Linde, Toyota Racing Series race-winner Esteban Muth and F3 convert Sophia Floersch. Lawson was top junior 11 times, won three races and came close to being DTM’s youngest champion before a controversial title decider that may have undone a lot of the work his results did to make the series’ sportscar era look attractive to drivers currently in junior single-seaters.

But did racing in the DTM, which began with victory on his debut at Monza, help Lawson in F2 and prepare him for F1?

“We had the first race, which we were fortunate enough to win, and I went into Sunday with the 25 kilograms [ballast] and we had a bit of BoP change as well,” Lawson recalled of his Monza weekend.

“I definitely wasn’t ready for the weight, and the pace difference. At the end I ended up having a spin that didn’t need to happen when I was fighting for a position that I should have just let go, and it’s something that over the season I definitely learned to accept the fact that when you have the weight, sometimes it’s going to be worse. Also in those races, it’s important to maximise. The first race in Hockenheim we really did that, with fourth place. It’s maximum points without getting weight for the Sunday race. In the end it was a good result, but [the weight] keeps it very, very close and it doesn’t let teams stretch away from everybody else.”

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Having the F1-experienced Albon as team-mate was “really, really cool” too and “even though we were racing different cars to what we’re both used to racing in, I’ve learned a lot off Alex”.

At the Norisring finale, he added more to Formula Scout on the topic of if GT3 cars and DTM’s unique sporting regulations had prepared him for the next step.

“The car itself, driving it is completely different to driving a single-seater, so it’s something that the driving side hasn’t prepared so much,” Lawson admitted.

“But working with manufacturers at such a high-level championship like this, for sure it’s prepared me on that side of things. It’s something that was not on the career ladder, but actually a lot of drivers of the past have done DTM before either going into LMP1 or to F1. For me, grateful for the opportunity to have raced in it this year.

He added: “With F2 the calendar has been so spread out with so few races that I would have just been sitting around most of the year doing nothing. So at the same time it’s kept me race fit as well. I’m really glad to have done it.”

Lawson’s AF Corse team boss Rens Reichert shared some glowing words on Lawson’s season too.

“It’s been incredible to see this amount of pure talent,” he said. “After the first day of testing pre-season, we were all really speechless. The guy jumps in, delivers, comes out and he’s not [relaxed] or anything, he gives us straight away the feedback and he wants to do it better. And the next time he just does exactly those points better. On that end, we’re all purely impressed, and I’m sure we will see him one day in F1.”

He also spoke about the Junior category, with additional input from Jens Feucht, team manager of the T3 Motorsport team that took Muth to 13th place overall in the championship in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Junior single-seater stars in the DTM

“On the Junior category, I think it’s something great, especially for Jens,” said Reichert. “It’s a really, really good platform to have drivers growing up. Liam put a very, very high benchmark in the Junior class just because of the talent. But in general, over time, I’m sure there will be more cars entered in the Junior trophy and it can be a really nice way of drivers growing up and using the DTM as a step so on for their future career.”

Feucht praised Lawson, calling him “an exceptional driver, [who] has been delivering a top performance” before adding his insight on the Junior category.

“Concerning the Junior category, it’s very important to have a separate classification where young and upcoming drivers can prove themselves and show off their skills. It’s been an aim of the team since the very beginning to support junior drivers in other categories. They have drivers 16, 17 years old already racing GT cars, and it’s one of the purposes of the team, so it’s great to have that platform.”

Here’s where not only the Junior classification may be key to be DTM’s continued relevance for young drivers, but also where the supporting Trophy series may prove its worth. Last year T3 only entered one DTM Trophy round, but did so with F2 driver Lirim Zendeli who is now targeting a DTM switch.

Rather than be a series for drivers to kickstart their careers, the Trophy may instead act as an in-between or trial arena for drivers from other areas of motorsport already courting DTM interest but without GT or circuit experience to point to.

A weekend in a rival GT3 series is all but guaranteed to mean sharing a car and therefore set-up with a driver who would usually be of a lower FIA grading, but as the DTM Trophy has one driver per car it gives drivers a greater opportunity to showcase their abilities (and confirm their own interests of racing in the paddock) even though it’s a less powerful GT4 car. The budgets are cheaper too, so an F2 or F3 driver would probably have the time and money to make it happen.

What’s more, where the DTM had previously been suffering from an exodus of teams it now has outfits that want to run cars in both series and therefore can provide a pipeline between the two. Mucke Motorsport has left junior single-seater racing and joined the DTM Trophy to support its one-car DTM entry.

The top two in last year’s Trophy have been recommending it to fellow racers, with champion Ben Green calling it “the best place for a young driver to compete right now”, while runner-up Will Tregurtha said “it’s great to be in a single-driver car, the racing is awesome, the crowds are big and it’s so cool to be involved with the DTM”. However the truth is both placed their ambition to race in the DTM firmly in the hands of Santa Claus to sort.

All of the above is overshadowed anyway by what took place at the Norisring last October. Team orders are not new in the DTM, particularly with battles between manufacturers, and neither is deliberate contact between cars when stakes are high.

Lawson went into the final round with a 14-point lead, and beat main title rival Kelvin van der Linde to race one pole to give himself 18kg ballast to start with.

Audi Abt driver van der Linde made a lunge on Lawson at the Turn 2 hairpin on lap one and went too deep, resulting in him dropping down the order while Lawson was passed by Philip Ellis who later handed the lead to title outsider and fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Maximilian Gotz.

A dominant win for Gotz and third for Lawson meant the points lead actually grew over van der Linde, who had a defensive Cassidy to get past for fourth.

Lawson pipped those two to pole for the title decider, and again van der Linde lunged for the lead at the first hairpin but cut the corner and knocked off both Ferraris. As Lawson said in the run-up to the race, “being Ferrari, and just having the two of us, at times we feel like we kind of have all the other manufacturers against us a little bit”.

He added to that: “Audi and Mercedes have a lot of cars on track together, and it’s something that they played well at Hockenheim using their team-mates to help try to keep us behind. At the same time as Mercedes helping a little bit to keep Kelvin behind. I’m just excited to be in this position, it’s a very important weekend but one I’m absolutely ready for.”

Lawson’s car was damaged from the lap one clash though and he ended up losing over 20 laps before retiring after several pitstops. Lucas Auer led Ellis and Gotz in a Mercedes 1-2-3, but the two Team Winward drivers up front slowed to let Haupt’s Gotz by with three laps to go. As a result, Gotz won the race and title. The Mercedes tactics had only been possible too after van der Linde had punctured his own tyre when trying to steal a position from Gotz.

Van der Linde defended his moves, the Mercedes teams defended their tactics, and Red Bull AF Corse called foul play. Most of all though, it left a very sour taste for fans and sponsors, and Berger outraged with the way the Mercedes teams (which do share data despite the lack of official manufacturer involvement) worked to make Gotz champion.

F1’s controversial 2021 title finale has helped cast DTM’s into distant memory, and its own driving standards questions also made it easy to forget how DTM’s superstars went beyond the rulebook too last year, but Norisring wasn’t isolated and more of a build-up of chaos from a series that looked increasingly out of control (while still entertaining) as the season went on. It was a learning year, but the experience of Berger and ITR means it shouldn’t have ended up in a position where it needs to crack down so much on several sporting elements to keep a sustainable and redeemed competition for 2022.

The way Lawson lost will be what sticks in people’s minds, and arguably be a deterrant for sponsors approached by young drivers wanting to enter. The DTM looked totally different in 2021, yet it made the same image of the good ol’, bad ol’ days.

The post Did year one of DTM’s GT3 era work for young drivers? appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Abt Sportline

Sophia Floersch will race in the new-look DTM this year, driving a Audi R8 LMS for the Abt Sportsline team.

The DTM has dumped its high-spec touring car regulations for 2021 and become a GT3 series much like GT World Challenge Europe and Euroformula’s sister series International GT Open.

That means it is a customer team-led series now, and attracted more manufacturers and drivers from a greater range of backgrounds. Floersch heads into the series after three years in Formula 3, and does plan to continue in single-seaters.

• Feature: Why DTM’s sportscar switch could go two ways for young drivers
  

“I’m really looking forward to competing in DTM,” said Floersch.

“The partnership with Schaeffler and Abt Sportsline is great and makes me confident for my first season. I’m very proud to be given the chance to prove myself against such a strong field of drivers.”

Floersch’s team-mates will be 2013 DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller and two-time ADAC GT Masters champion Kelvin van der Linde. She will be up against other junior single-seater stars too, including Ferrari-driving Red Bull junior Liam Lawson.

Laura Muller will be Floersch’s race engineer, and Maike Frik will be team manager in a female-led 2021 setup.

Floersch does have sportscar experience already, having started her car racing career with wins in Ginetta Junior before moving into single-seaters in Formula 4 and then F3.

She then formed part of Richard Mille Racing’s LMP2 line-up in the European Le Mans Series last year. She remains with the team for 2021, but will now contest the World Endurance Championship.

The post Sophia Floersch lands 2021 DTM seat with Abt appeared first on Formula Scout.

Audi Sport Abt has suspended its driver Daniel Abt for cheating in an Esports competition. The team needs a replacement capable of winning it titles and may need to look at its rivals to find the star it requires

Daniel Abt – runner-up to Mitch Evans in GP3 back in 2012 – has lost his Audi Sport ABT Formula E drive after he was found to have allowed simulator racer Lorenz Hoerzing to drive in his place during the latest FE Race at Home Challenge race.

The 27-year-old, who has driven for the team since the series’ inception in 2014, leaves behind a coveted seat for the remainder of the season alongside 2015-16 champion and current title contender Lucas di Grassi.

There will be plenty of drivers for Audi to choose from, not least one of its nine contracted drivers who will be displaced when the German manufacturer leaves the DTM later this year. Among those DTM refugees will be the obvious replacement picks in Robin Frijns and Nico Muller, who currently drive in FE for Virgin Racing and Dragon Racing respectively.

Although Audi supplies Virgin with its powertrain and loans Muller to Dragon, the automotive manufacturer may find it difficult to pry either driver from their respective team especially part-way through the season.

Two-time DTM champion Rene Rast may also be an enticing option, although his FE experience is limited to a cameo for Team Aguri at the 2016 Berlin E-Prix and he’s now 33 years old. Young GT drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Mattia Drudi tested for Audi during March’s rookie test in Marrakech and will also be in outside contention for the seat.

Formula Scout presents five young drivers, and an older Audi-known star, who should be in consideration for an FE seat…

Maximilian Gunther GERMANY 22y/o
Currently 4th in 2019-20 FE, 17th in 2018-19 FE – 14th in ’18 F2, 2nd in 2016 FIA European F3, 5th in ’17 Macau GP

Following a breakout second season, BMW Andretti’s Maximilian Gunther must be a driver many teams will consider for a drive in the future. At 22 he is the series’ youngest victor after taking his maiden win in Santiago earlier this year, and he followed that up with second in Marrakesh shortly before the season was halted. He currently sits fourth in the standings, just two points behind his experienced (in a wider motorsport sense) team-mate Alexander Sims.

While Gunther’s junior single-seater record never included a title, it was still very solid. Twice a runner-up in ADAC Formel Masters, Gunther was also a 10-time race-winner in FIA European Formula 3. He was a distant runner-up to Lance Stroll in 2016 (but beat George Russell) and was a less distant third in 2017 behind Lando Norris and Joel Eriksson.

That led on to Formula 2 with the somewhat unfancied Arden outfit. He claimed an unremarkable 41 points from 22 races in a year when fellow rookies Norris and Russell fought over the title and earned Formula 1 seats. But it was Gunther’s first season on Pirelli tyres and he outscored highly-rated team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi by 24 points despite the Honda junior having spent the previous two years on Pirellis in GP3. Gunther also took a convincing reversed-grid win at Silverstone.

He hasn’t always had things easy in FE, after a difficult maiden season with Dragon that included seat-swapping with IMSA star Felipe Nasr. However, Gunther emerged as a rough diamond with some excellent drives. Many went unrewarded due to reliability issues, notably at Santiago, but a brace of fifths was the team’s strongest results by some distance. He also effectively ended triple World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez’s FE career in the process.

Gunther would be a very strong asset to Audi if they’re able to pry him away from BMW. That seems impossible to do in the middle of the season, but they’ll be keeping an eye on his long-term future, that is certain.

Ferdinand Habsburg AUSTRIA 22y/o
2020 DTM, 18th in 2019 DTM, 4th in 2017 Macau GP, 7th in ’17 FIA European F3, 2nd in 2016 Euroformula, 4th in ’16 TRS

After R-Motorsport pulled its self-developed Aston Martins out of the DTM at the start of 2020, Ferdinand Habsburg had to find a seat elsewhere to secure a second season in the series. He found an additional berth at Audi customer W Racing Team. But with Audi set to leave the German touring car series at the end of 2020, it seems likely an Audi debut for Habsburg either won’t happen or will be short-lived. Perhaps his long-term future could be switched to a Formula E instead?

Up until the start of 2019, the Austrian’s motorsport career had been focused on single-seaters. He raced with Carlin in European F3 in 2017 and ’18, securing a handful of podium finishes and a victory at Spa-Francorchamps as a rookie. However, he lacked the consistency of his team-mates, and in 2018 the team struggled as a whole with the Hankook tyres. He was third best of the Carlin drivers again in the standings, 34 points behind rookie team-mate Sacha Fenestraz.

Perhaps because of this, he followed Fenestraz in not progressing to F2 in 2019. And while he did move to the DTM, it was clear a return to single-seaters was not off the cards. He raced in the Macau Grand Prix, after losing victory at the final corner in ’17, and he did shine – qualifying eighth on the toughest street circuit – even though it went far from planned.

If Habsburg were to get the FE seat, he would need the consistency he lacked in single-seaters. And it seems he has already made progress.

Consistency was actually one of Habsburg’s biggest strengths in 2019, and one of the aspects of his driving that convinced Audi to run him this year in the first place. He placed consistently just outside the top 10 and arguably had a more solid year than team-mate Paul di Resta, though he lacked the stand-out performances that earned points. A tally of just three points was not a fair representation of his rookie campaign, proven in that he was the only R-Motorsport driver to secure a 2020 seat.

Habsburg would be faced with a steep learning curve and a lot to prove as di Grassi’s team-mate, but Audi had the confidence he would step up for the 2020 DTM campaign. He could do the same in Formula E.

Joel Eriksson SWEDEN 21y/o
2020 ADAC GT Masters, 11th in ’19 DTM, 2nd in 2018 Macau GP, 2nd in 2017 FIA European F3, 2016 Masters of F3 winner

While BMW will be desperate to keep hold of Gunther, another one of its young stars has fallen out of favour with the German manufacturer over the past year and may prove to be a more realistic target for Audi.

After serving as Norris’s biggest rival in European F3 through 2017, BMW tempted Eriksson away from single-seaters and into its DTM line-up for 2018. He earned three podiums, including a win in a bizarre Misano night race in mixed conditions.

However, his two years in the DTM were littered with incidents and inconsistencies. He was somewhat unfairly shuffled out of his seat at the end of 2019 and moved into ADAC GT Masters, where his older brother and GP3 race-winner Jimmy also races.

While the series is a competitive and respectable GT championship, it’s easy to feel as if Eriksson’s full potential has not been shown and that he has unfinished business in single-seaters. His last race in a single-seater was when he finished second to runaway winner Dan Ticktum at the 2018 Macau GP.

At just 21 years old, Eriksson could be a long-term investment for Audi, who will be fully aware di Grassi is 35 years old. There’s the potential for Audi to mould Eriksson – who was powered by sister company Volkswagen in F3 – into a more complete, consistent driver in the same way BMW has been able to achieve with Gunther.

He’s also acting as Dragon’s test and reserve driver for the 2019-20 season so has FE experience and showed great adaptability when he graduated from F3 and finished fourth on his debut DTM weekend. At the very least, Dragon should consider promoting him to a race seat should Audi call on the services of Muller.

Sacha Fenestraz FRANCE/ARGENTINA 20y/o
2020 Super Formula, 2019 Japanese F3 champion, 6th in ’19 Super GT300, 3rd in 2018 Macau GP, 2017 FR Eurocup champion

Photo: Formula E

Former Renault junior Fenestraz hasn’t stopped bouncing back in style after his disappointing rookie European F3 season, which featured one win and 11th in the points after an early win on the streets of Pau. The street-based challenge of the end-of-year Macau GP provided the first opportunity to remind everyone of the talent he’d shown en route to the 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup title, and two Monaco wins, beating the likes of F1 juniors Robert Shwartzman and Dan Ticktum.

He finished seventh on his Macau debut in 2017, with little F3 experience, and his second effort with (then-struggling) Carlin resulted third place behind the dominant Ticktum and Eriksson. He sampled GP3, but a lack of funds following the loss of Renault’s support meant he made the bold switch to Japan. Despite considering quitting racing during the off-season, and facing all-new circuits, he won eight races on the way to a dominant Super Formula Lights title.

That title campaign was dovetailed with a step into sportscars in Super GT300. Again he impressed, and it earned him seats in Super Formula and Super GT’s top GT500 class for 2020 as a Toyota driver. Fenestraz may be considered crazy to walk away from such an opportunity, but FE has already come knocking and Audi may make an offer the Frenchman can’t refuse.

As with Eriksson, the 20-years-old is a potential long-term asset for Audi and one that Renault may regret letting go after one poor F3 season in which all of his team-mates also struggled. But Toyota will be keen to hold onto his services, especially with its reigning SF champion Nick Cassidy edging closer and closer to a FE switch of his own.

Jaguar was the first FE team to approach Fenestraz, offering him the chance to drive in Marrakech earlier this year in the rookie test, in which he was 10th fastest.

A lot will depend on when the SF and Super GT seasons begin and how many rounds they will feature. Fenestraz may prove too difficult for Audi to pry from Toyota for 2020, but don’t rule him out making it to FE in the near future.

Jake Dennis ENGLAND 24y/o
Currently 10th in 2020 IGTC, 17th in 2019 DTM, 4th in 2016 GP3, 3rd in 2015 FIA European F3, 4th in 2013 FR Eurocup

The start of Jake Dennis’s car racing career was heavy with silverware, with titles in InterSteps and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup in successive years. This was bookended by Dennis winning the 2012 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

At the time, the award was McLaren-backed and Dennis got his first taste of F1 in the manufacturer’s 2011 machine at Silverstone a year later. While he said the car was out to kill him at first, his run was remembered for how quickly he started to push the limits, and his aggressive attacking of the National layout’s kerbs.

While that may have been over six years ago, it points to skills that are useful for the one-day, street-based format that most FE events tend to be. And what of Dennis’s street circuit form?

In 2015 he raced in European F3 and totally dominated the Pau Grand Prix weekend. He topped his qualifying group by over three-quarters of a second in the wet and converted race one pole into victory in a style that had previously eluded him in the nimble F3 cars. The feat was repeated in race two.

Pole position for the grand prix itself came by almost half a second, and Dennis led 23 of the 28 laps with damaged left-front suspension. With five to go, Antonio Giovinazzi broke through Dennis’ defence and he lost further places before a last-lap crash left him in 23rd. The experience Dennis has gathered in the five years since would suggest if he was in the same predicament in an FE race now, it would end far better.

In 2016 he took two wins and fourth in the GP3 standings with Arden, before a switch to sportscars with WRT. He impressed immediately, and his Arden links enabled a move to Aston Martin customer R-Motorsport for 2018. Stronger results and then a DTM seat with the brand followed (as well as a Red Bull F1 test role). Dennis made the most of his DTM drive and by the end of the year, he was only a few points off his more experienced team-mates 2010 champion di Resta and Daniel Juncadella.

Dennis has experience of representing a manufacturer at the top-level of motorsport and is thoroughly deserving of a return to single-seaters and could feasibly be lured from Aston Martin’s stable. Although his lack of any FE experience will hurt him, he’s demonstrated that’s he’s a highly-adaptable driver.

And one that missed the boat…

Ed Jones UAE 25y/o
2020 DTM, 13th in 2018 IndyCar, 14th in 2017 IndyCar, 2016 Indy Lights champion, 2013 Euroformula champion

One year too old to make our list, but we deemed it wrong not mention one of Audi’s newest recruits Ed Jones. Audi’s somewhat left-field signing of the former IndyCar star to its DTM line-up was a testament to the 25-year-old’s ability.

He mirrored Dennis in racing in the Intersteps and FR NEC championship in 2011 and ’12, albeit with less success. Jones switched to F3 in Euroformula for 2013, where he skipped the opening round but still won the title.

For 2014 he moved to the FIA’s European championship, but struggled to shine against the likes of Giovinazzi, Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen. He worked with Carlin to cross over to America together for 2015 and tackle Indy Lights, where he won his firs three races but had to wait until his second season to win the title – with a little assistance from team orders.

Jones had two solid years in IndyCar with Dale Coyne Racing then Chip Ganassi Racing, but could only find a part-time deal for 2019 and eventually settled on to return to racing in Europe for 2020. Audi was evidently aware that Jones hadn’t shown the extent of his true potential during his three years in a stacked IndyCar field, where he was quickly usurped by the new youngsters on the block like Colton Herta, Patricio O’Ward and Oliver Askew.

With no FE experience, Jones is an outside contender, but one which could be easily slotted in for the remainder of the season with minimal financial expense before a long-term option is signed for the 2020-21 season.

Written by Josh Suttill, Bethonie Waring, Craig Woollard and Elliot Wood

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