Joel Eriksson will keep his Dragon Penske Formula E seat for next weekend’s New York City E-Prix double-header after deputising for DTM regular Nico Mueller last time out in Mexico.
The Swede, who was officially named as the British based American team’s reserve driver in May, filled in for Mueller at both Puebla E-Prix last month finishing 17th and 15th after a penalty-affected weekend largely due to technical issues relating to an inverter problem, that caused the DPA team to break the seals on its homologated component.
It had been expected that Mueller would return for the New York City races as there is no clash with his DTM commitments next weekend.
The move could see Mueller’s two seasons as a DPA driver come to an end because the following Formula E rounds at the ExCeL Arena in London clash with the Norisring rounds of the DTM.
That would mean only the Tempelhof Airfield races would be available for Mueller to compete and technically he could switch back into the seat despite Formula E working to a regulation that forbids driver changes for the final two races.
This is because teams can revert to the originally nominated driver which means that Mueller could in theory return to the No.6 Penske cockpit.
The Race understands that Mueller may be offered a covering role for the New York City E-Prix but is unlikely to be in the Big Apple.
Factory Audi driver Mueller is driving in the new-look DTM championship this season in a Team Rosberg run Audi R8 LMS Evo and finished second in the first round at Monza last month.
He was considered for a drive with the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler squad in 2019 but instead joined Dragon along with Brendon Hartley in the summer of that year.
Mueller’s maiden campaign netted no points despite a promising start with a seventh position on the Mexico City E-Prix start grid in February of 2020.
This season he has scored points on three occasions; a fifth in the second Diriyah E-Prix, a fortunate second at the infamous first Valencia race and then a ninth in Rome.
Despite the points haul, DPA’s pace has again been disappointing with the all-new Penske EV-6 failing to make an impact since it made its debut in Monaco.
Eriksson will again partner Sergio Sette Camara who has collated 12 points so far this season, all thanks to a fourth place in Riyadh.
