News on the current restructuring of the Techeetah Formula E team suggests a provisional management structure of two previous Team Aguri personnel for season three while they continue to utilise several mechanics from Status Motorsport.
I was however surprised to see Techeetah new acquisition Jean-Eric Vergne being granted a stake in the new team. Whether this was a deciding factor in joining the squad remains to be seen, but could it signal the Frenchman is transitioning from his racing career to a management role?
The team plans to join forces with a major OEM in season four according to Techeetah team President Edmund Chu.
“We want to be a successful team on and off the grid”” said Chu. China is a very important market for us and we hope to have the support of many motorsport enthusiasts here in China.”
NEXTEV’s full acquisition of Team China Racing is something that concerns Nelson Piquet, believing that the purchase would result in a reshuffle that could compromise the current brains trust within the outfit, but with more manufacturers getting involved in the series, it will become harder to compete as a privateer - making alliances like we’ve seen with Dragon and Faraday Future becoming more necessary.
“Motor racing is always a resource game”” said Mark Preston. It’s always better to have a big partner. That’s what we’re going after and we’re still talking to a number of potential OEM partners, but it’s always better to have more resources.”
Rumours still abound that the team’s new Renault power unit package could be re-badged as a Nissan in the future. Preston was reticent on that matter, but believed the unit itself would propel the team forward.
"I think I’s a bit early for that. We’ll have a new power-train so we’ll be up with the other guys”” he said.
“I imagine there will be a step up with everybody in pit-lane. As when everyone does their first iteration, someone always decides that they did it wrong and go in a different direction, so I think we’ll be up there next year."