The long-mooted alliance between the Dragon Penske team and Formula E manufacturer DS Performance has finally been made public today along with the expected signing of reigning Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne.
The Race revealed the plans for the new-look team and Vandoorne’s multi-year signature earlier this year in what has been seen throughout the paddock as a surprise formation of a new Franco-American entrant.
Vandoorne’s switch is official as he’ll partner DS mainstay Jean-Eric Vergne in the only champion line-up in 2023.
“I’m really happy to be joining DS Penske from next season,” said Vandoorne. “It’s a big change for me after four years at Mercedes but I am very excited to start working with the team.
“DS has achieved excellent results in the past, winning the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles twice: it’s a good record and one that I hope I can add to before long! It’s also a great pleasure to be associated with the only double champion in Formula E. I believe that JEV and I will form one of the strongest line-ups for Season 9.”
Vergne added: “I’m extremely happy to continue my adventure with DS,” said the 32-year-old. “Our very first race together dates back to 2015 and I believe that our association has made a big impact on the history of Formula E.”
Dragon Penske and DS Automobiles agreed on the plans back in January after Dragon ceased its efforts to continue as a non-manufacturer-supplied entity with Bosch as an initial major technical partner in late 2021.
That then triggered talks between Dragon Penske as it was then known and DS, which was at a crossroads in its Formula E programme after experiencing severe difficulties with its previous team, Techeetah.
These stemmed from the Chinese owners of Techeetah, SECA, looking for investors and buyers of its stake in the team after founding the operation in the summer of 2016.
Those plans had a detrimental effect on the budget capabilities of the team for the 2022 season after a proposed investment by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Anthony Di Iorio floundered in August 2021.
This led to a hasty re-structuring of how the DS Techeetah squad operated commercially and operationally in its final season together in 2022 where it finished second in the teams’ standings with Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa.
Testing setups in real conditions 🏎️
📸 : DPPI Images#ABBFormulaE #DSAutomobiles #electricracing pic.twitter.com/R3VxnfhBGl
— DS Performance (@DS_Performance) October 7, 2022
Those changes included DS Performance’s Thomas Chevaucher becoming team principal and Techeetah co-founder Mark Preston switching to a CEO role. Financially, DS also contributed more to the team than its original deal, which included a budgetary contribution from Total, for its final season with Techeetah.
DS had spoken to several teams prior to its deal with Dragon forming. These included Andretti which eventually partnered with Porsche last May for the first two years of the Gen3 era.
Although terms were agreed earlier, the Dragon Penske and DS deal is believed to not have actually been signed until the summer with negotiations on how the core DS engineering team would integrate with a handful of the American team’s staff discussed for several months.
These include long-time Dragon Penske technical lead Nicolas Mauduit but The Race understands that the vast majority of Dragon’s technical team was let go after Seoul E-Prix in August.
The DS Penske team will be based in Satory, DS Performance’s longtime headquarters near Paris. The former Dragon Penske base at Silverstone has recently been vacated.
It’s clear that the initial intention for the new-look DS Penske entity will be to make the operation look and feel as imperceptible as possible to the successful previous incarnation of the multi-title winning DS Techeetah squad.
All eyes are now on the black and gold GEN3
📸 : DPPI Images // @boniphoto_ #ABBFormulaE #DSAutomobiles #technology pic.twitter.com/7n3k8lWvp8
— DS Performance (@DS_Performance) September 29, 2022
This is evidenced by the team retaining the black and gold livery which was originated by Techeetah from its debut in 2016 when it ran with Renault powertrains.
The Techeetah teams’ future plans still remain unclear for 2023 but The Race believes that the operation still intends to race in Formula E in the future if it acquires the necessary investment.
DS will continue testing its Gen3 car next week after original plans to run this week with Jaguar at the Calafat circuit in Spain were re-evaluated.
