Tag: Maximilian Guenther

Vandoorne and Hughes in as Maserati overhauls Formula E lineup

Maserati MSG Racing will field an all-new lineup in Formula E next season, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes both joining the team, replacing Maximilian Guenther and Jehan Daruvala. Both drivers arrive at the team ahead of the introduction of …

Maserati MSG Racing will field an all-new lineup in Formula E next season, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes both joining the team, replacing Maximilian Guenther and Jehan Daruvala.

Both drivers arrive at the team ahead of the introduction of the GEN3 Evo formula, and will make their debuts during pre-season testing in Valencia on the week of November 4-7 before Round 1 of the 2024-25 campaign, Season 11, in Sao Paulo a month later.

Vandoorne’s signing means he remains within the Stellantis brand, having moved over from DS Penske – the anticipated destination of Guenther – after two years. He also races for the company’s Peugeot brand in the World Endurance Championship.

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“I’m very happy to be joining Maserati MSG Racing next season and I’m proud to be associated with such an iconic name within motorsport as Maserati,” said the Season 8 champion. “I’m excited to start working with the team – although I haven’t worked directly with them before, I know the team well, both from my time at DS Penske but also from my time with Mercedes when we shared a powertrain with Venturi.

“They are a great bunch of people, very skilled, very determined and I’m really looking forward to working together moving forwards. Hopefully we’ll have a lot of success and fight for victories and championships together.”

Hughes was announced at Maserati a couple of hours after his exit from NEOM McLaren was confirmed. Hughes had been with McLaren since it entered Formula E, having taken over the former Mercedes entry for which he was a reserve driver for – a position which he also served his new team in Season 7 when it was in its guise as Mercedes customer Venturi Racing.

Hughes joins Maserati after two strong seasons with McLaren. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images

“I’m over the moon to be joining Maserati MSG Racing,” said Hughes. “The success that the team has had, as one of the founding teams in Formula E, speaks for itself.

“On a personal level, I have worked with the team previously so I know them well and I’m genuinely looking forward to going back. I know that the season has only just finished but I honestly can’t wait to get over to the HQ in Monaco and start working with the engineers, get on the simulator and really get cracking with our prep for Season 11.

“This marks the start of an exciting new chapter in my career, and I know that the best is yet to come.”

RACER understands that McLaren had attempted to retain Hughes but both sides couldn’t come to an agreement. As well as Maserati, he was also linked with a move to Nissan, which supplies drivetrains to McLaren.

“Leaving the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team will feel very strange for me in the coming weeks, based on the fact this team has been my home for the last four and a half years,” Hughes said. “I have a lot of thanks to give to so many different people within the team for what they have given me, and how they have prepared me and allowed me to grow into the racing driver I am today.

“Everything I am in Formula E is down to this team, and for that I am extremely grateful. I wish the team all the best, and I have no doubt that we’ll have some good times racing on track against each other in the future.”

McLaren team principal Ian James paid tribute to Hughes upon his departure, saying, “Jake has made a significant contribution to this team over the years, both on and off the track, and we are incredibly grateful for his input and dedication throughout.

“During this time, he has flourished into a proven talent in Formula E; particular highlights being his four pole positions – of which one came in only his third ever event in Formula E – and his P2 finish in Shanghai this year.

“On a personal note, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Jake. Alongside his natural talent as a driver, he is a consummate professional and yet has an easy sense of humour which has endeared him to all in the Formula E paddock.”

Similarly to how Hughes joined the race team, McLaren is expected to promote current test and reserve driver Taylor Barnard to race alongside Sam Bird for the team. Barnard starred with two points finishes earlier this year filling in for Bird when he was out injured.

Guenther delivered Maserati its first Formula E win – and its first single seater victory since Juan Manual Fangio at the 1957 German Grand Prix – in Jarkarta in 2023. Sam Bagnall/Motorsport Images

Meanwhile, although Guenther is expected to fill the vacancy created by Vandoorne at DS Penske, Daruvala’s Formula E future is currently unknown.

“At the end of an intense Formula E Season 10, Maserati would also like to extend its sincere thanks to Max and Jehan for their incredible passion and commitment to the team,” said head of Maserati Corse Giovanni Tommaso Sgro. “In the last two years, Max has provided us with some of the most significant moments in Maserati’s modern history on the track: with his victory in Jakarta last season, he was the first driver to bring a Maserati single seater back to the top step of the podium since Juan Manuel Fangio.

“This year, he won in Tokyo and took a podium placing two years running in the Trident’s home race, in Rome and Misano… These memories will forever remain indelibly imprinted on this brand’s history on the track and we’re really proud of these results.”

Guenther paces second Berlin E-Prix practice

Maximilian Guenther kept up Stellantis’ strong start to the Berlin E-Prix by topping the second practice session at Tempelhof Airport. The Maserati MSG driver’s best time of 1m02.177s was 0.012s quicker than Lucas di Grassi, who wound up second for …

Maximilian Guenther kept up Stellantis’ strong start to the Berlin E-Prix by topping the second practice session at Tempelhof Airport.

The Maserati MSG driver’s best time of 1m02.177s was 0.012s quicker than Lucas di Grassi, who wound up second for Abt Cupra in a marked improvement from his Friday showing.

Pascal Wehrlein got his first timed laps of the weekend in, going third quickest. The TAG Heuer Porsche driver missed FP1 after stopping on-track in the first few minutes. The team told RACER it was a “technical issue involving the high voltage system” that “affected a considerable number of parts on the car.” His best time on Saturday morning was just 0.075 off first, showing the the reduced track time has had little affect on his pace.

Edoardo Mortara was fourth quickest for Mahindra, with Jean-Eric Vergne completing the top five for DS Penske.

Nick Cassidy was the highest placed Jaguar driver in sixth, ahead of Nissan’s oliver Rowland, Norman Nato of Andretti, DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne, and Jehan Daruvala of Maserati, who will face a 20-place grid drop later today as a result of changing his rear gearbox.

Mitch Evans finished the session 11th in the other factory Jaguar, ahead of Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara, and Kelvin van der Linde, the highest-placed of the multiple stand-in drivers this weekend. He was ahead of another, Mahindra’s Jordan King, Jake Dennis, Sacha Fenestra, and the NEOM McLaren duo of Jake Hughes and Taylor Barnard, with paul Aron, Dan Ticktum, and Joel Eriksson completing the field.

RESULTS

Rowland stands by power-saving move that cost him Tokyo E-Prix lead

Oliver Rowland says he “would have probably been swallowed up by more people” had he not backed off on lap 25 of the Tokyo E-Prix, a move that ultimately cost him victory. The Nissan driver controlled much of the race, but needed to save power in …

Oliver Rowland says he “would have probably been swallowed up by more people” had he not backed off on lap 25 of the Tokyo E-Prix, a move that ultimately cost him victory.

The Nissan driver controlled much of the race, but needed to save power in the final 10 laps after a safety car period left his rivals behind him in better shape energy-wise. He backed off on his way to Turn 10, which allowed eventual winner Maximillian Guenther to overtake.

Rowland admits that he’d hoped to capitalize on the Maserati MSG driver’s slipstream and retake the lead before the end of the race, but while the strategy was unsuccessful, he’s not sure he would do anything different if put in the same scenario again.

“The way that Formula E is now, the slipstream’s quite powerful and I was kind of managing to under-consume and keep them behind before the safety car — but I knew that their targets in terms of energy were probably building,” he said. “Unfortunately, after the safety car the target dropped quite significantly and the lap time delta here is quite aggressive in terms of how much time you lose for the energy target coming down so I was kind of in a position where if I’d have stayed out front any longer I would have probably been swallowed up by more people.

“Of course I was trying to keep the lead when the lift … But I think he did a solid job. It’s kind of one of those things — if I did it again, I’m not really sure what I’d do different. Would I have to relinquish the lead maybe a bit earlier and stay in the slipstream? But yeah, I think we maximized what we could, but it was on the table which is a bit frustrating.”

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Despite that, Guenther says his charge to the lead “wasn’t that easy” after having to get by Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara for second, then fend off the more efficient Porsche-powered cars of Jake Dennis, Antonio Felix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein behind him.

“I surprised him, I guess, into Turn 10, and this opened up the race for us,” said Guenther. “I tried to pull a bit of a gap but I couldn’t really, obviously enough … But obviously it was very tight on energy. The Porsche cars, Jake in P3, were coming very fast with lots of energy from behind so both Oli and me, we had to defend hard and in the end it paid off.”

Guenther’s victory was Maserati’s first since June last year, and he says it shows the work the team has done to turn around its tricky start to the season, where it hasn’t finished on the podium before the Tokyo race, is paying off.

“Every victory is special in its own way. Obviously this one feels great because we didn’t have a strong season so far,” he said. “They’re building something pretty good I think — they made some good changes in the last couple of weeks.

“I think we already saw it in Sao Paulo, just we didn’t get so many points from starting last, but I think this weekend we transferred it into a very good outcome and I’m looking forward to the races to come.”

For Rowland, despite missing out on victory, he is looking at the positives and thinks the result shows Nissan can fight at the front despite not necessarily having the strongest package in race trim.

“It’s probably better than we imagined at the start of the season, obviously missing out last year, coming back to a team that’s kind of rebuilding, but I think the package is really strong,” he said. “I think in qualifying we have one of the best cars; in the race we have some limitations but I think it shows today if we do the job then we can still fight at the front.

“We need to keep qualifying towards the front and keeping in the mix in the races and scoring points.”

Guenther overhauls Rowland for inaugural Tokyo E-Prix win

Maximilian Guenther claimed his and Maserati MSG’s first win of the Formula E season on the streets of Tokyo, resisting a late charge from polesitter Oliver Rowland, who’d handed him the lead earlier to save power. Nissan driver Rowland controlled …

Maximilian Guenther claimed his and Maserati MSG’s first win of the Formula E season on the streets of Tokyo, resisting a late charge from polesitter Oliver Rowland, who’d handed him the lead earlier to save power.

Nissan driver Rowland controlled the race for the first two thirds, but ceded the lead on lap 25 to fellow front-row starter Guenther, who’d lost out to a fast starting Edoardo Mortara at the start of the race.

A move to reclaim second from Mortara on lap 10 gave Rowland some breathing space up front as he went for his Attack Mode power boost for the first time, while a subsequent trip round the longer line for Mortara consolidated Guenther’s move.

A second trip to the Attack Mode zone dropped Guenther down once again on lap 14, but he retook position on track, getting by Mortara at Turn 16, before setting his sights on Rowland out front.

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A safety car on lap 21 for debris after Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans slammed the wall at Turn 9 three laps earlier bunched up the field and aided Guenther massively as Rowland needed to save power to make it to the end of the race, which had been extended by two laps to 35 after the caution period.

He was now in prime position to snatch the lead when the race resumed on lap 23, and two laps later, Rowland lifted on the approach to Turn 10, making Guenther’s pass for the lead an easy job, but Rowland remained on his tail. However, an attempt at snatching the lead with a pass around the outside on the final lap — what would have been the second race in succession the win was decided in such a fashion — failed to pay off, allowing Guenther to bring Maserati its first victory since the second race in Jakarta last June.

Oliver Rowland conceded the lead to save power for a chance to steal back the win, but his tactic fell short. Andrew Ferraro/Motorsport Images

Third went to Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who capitalized on a failed attempt from da Costa to pass Rowland for second with three laps to go. Da Costa was left to take fourth ahead of TAG Heuer Porsche teammate Pascal Wehrlein, who’d also dropped down the order after a tussle with Dennis earlier in the race.

Nico Mueller claimed Abt Cupra’s first points of the season in sixth, ahead of Nick Cassidy who finished eighth on the road — having started 19th as a result of a penalty in qualifying — but was bumped up a place after Mortara was disqualified from what would have been Mahindra’s first points finish of the year in sixth for energy overuse.

Robin Frijns subsequently took eighth for Envision Racing despite a collision with Norman Nato on lap 32 that resulted in the Andretti driver receiving a five-second penalty which dropped him out of a points scoring position, too. Sergio Sette Camara was ninth, giving ERT its first points finish of the season, while Sacha Fenestraz ensured two Nissans scored points on home turf with 10th.

After pitting to replace his front wing, Evans came home 14th, behind DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne, Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, and NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes, but ahead of the penalized Nato.

In a stark contrast to last time when he won in Sao Paulo, Sam Bird was the last of the runners to finish, taking 19th ahead of Abt Cupra driver Lucas di Grassi and Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries, who both retired after colliding while trying to avoid Evans. Bird did, however, claim the fastest lap, with a 1m19.731 on lap 27.

RESULTS