until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
DTM race winner Joel Eriksson will make his Formula E racing debut in the next round at Puebla.
The 22-year-old Swede is stepping in at Dragon Penske Autosport as the Mexican event on June 19-20 clashes with the opening round of the revamped DTM at Monza, in which Dragon regular Nico Mueller will be racing a Team Rosberg Audi.
Eriksson was Dragon’s official reserve last year and participated in FE’s rookie test in Marrakesh with it.
He also has Formula E test experience with what was then DS Virgin from 2018.
“To race in Formula E has always been a dream since the championship started and to be given the chance finally feels kind of unreal,” said Eriksson.
“There’s a lot of work in front of us, but I have a great team behind me, so I know they will do all they can to make me as prepared as possible before arriving in Mexico.
“This time, it will be challenging as I only have limited mileage in this car.
“But my main goal is to make the best out of it and gain as much experience as possible.
“I do believe that scoring points in the races is absolutely possible if I execute well.”
After finishing near the bottom of the FE points table for the past four seasons, Dragon made a brighter start to 2021 with a breakthrough fourth and fifth for Sergio Sette Camara and Mueller in the second race of the Diriyah weekend. Mueller also emerged with second place from the farcical Valencia opener.
But those big scores have been negated by poor form elsewhere and having been as high as fourth in the teams’ championship, Dragon is now back to 11th out of 12 heading to Puebla.
A former BMW junior driver, Eriksson was a DTM winner in his rookie season with the firm in 2018 but lost his drive at the end of 2019 and has since focused on sportscars.
He will remain as reserve for Dragon for the rest of the 2021 FE season and may yet get further race chances as the series’ London event on July 24-25 clashes with the DTM’s Lausitzring round.
