Alpine Formula 1 junior driver Victor Martins will test for the Nissan Formula E team in Berlin next week alongside multiple Formula 2 race winner Luca Ghiotto.
Martins, who graduated to F2 this season with the same ART GP squad he took last year’s FIA F3 title, is the second driver from F2 along with Red Bull junior Zane Maloney to be confirmed on the entry list.
Alpine Academy driver Martins has an impressive junior single-seater series record having won his first title with ART GP in 2020 by clinching the Formula Renault Eurocup title.
A fifth-place finish in the 2021 F3 campaign followed with MP Motorsport before he reunited with ART GP last season where he beat Maloney and Ferrari protege Oliver Bearman in a tight season-long contest.
“It’s a huge honour to be selected for the rookie test with Nissan’s Formula E team,” Martins said.
“The team has a close relationship with the Alpine Academy, which I’m a part of, and it’s a great chance for me to experience a Formula E car for the first time.
“I’ve already been in the simulator and found it really interesting, there’s a lot to learn and I have to use a different style of driving. It’s a great opportunity to keep expanding my skillset across different cars and I’m excited to give it a try. I’ll look to make the most of the test and learn as much as I can from the team and my time on track.”
Nissan Formula E managing director and team principal Tommaso Volpe described Martins as a “young and promising driver” and that Nissan was pleased to be “using our connections with the Alpine Academy and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance”.
He continued: “It’s great for the championship to be attracting rising stars like him – he’s making his F2 debut this year and is showing strong signs, so it was a natural choice for us to offer him a chance in the Nissan e-4ORCE 04.”
Ghiotto meanwhile has majored in GT3 racing in recent seasons although he did make two cameo appearances for DAMS in F2 – where he raced full-time between 2016 and 2020 – last season. That was when Roy Nissany was slapped with a weekend ban for accumulating 12-penalty points after the Zandvoort round last summer.
Ghiotto, who won seven GP2/F2 races for Trident, Russian Time and its successor UNI-Virtuosi Racing, took a 13th place in the only race he finished while deputising for Nissany at Monza last year.
He has been Nissan’s simulator driver since the start of 2023 and stated that he “can’t wait to feel a Formula E car in real life for the first time.
“My job as simulator driver is to help the team by testing different settings and programs, as the on-track time in Formula E is quite limited, meaning our data from the simulator can be really important during race weekends.
“The rookie test will definitely aid my work at the factory, as I’ll have a reference and understanding of how the real car feels.”
