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New BMW Andretti recruit Jake Dennis says that next week’s pre-season test at Valencia will be crucial for him as he continues to learn the Formula E ropes.
Dennis was confirmed as Maximilian Guenther’s team-mate last month and has told The Race that the three available days in Spain, which combines for a total of 18 hours of track time, are vital for his preparations ahead of January’s opening double-header in Chile.
Having completed just two on track days for BMW so far at Varano and Miramas, Dennis has been spending the last few weeks at BMW’s simulator in Munich working through theory and procedural menus.
He told The Race this week that the opportunity for running at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo is “having three days in quick succession is massive for me” and that he “still needs to learn the car itself”.
“I think the experienced drivers don’t really learn too much, because the track will be a bit irrelevant for them,” he added.
“What it does on the 250kW (setting) and the on the 200kW hour, and getting all the systems right while driving and having a good relationship with your engineer and performance engineer is massive too, and in Formula E it’s probably the biggest I’ve ever experienced.”
As well as getting to know the BMW Andretti squad, Dennis has also been gauging the opinions of former teammates and rivals in addition to teammate Maximilian Guenther.
“I spoke to Robin Frijns and Felix Rosenqvist, and just said ‘look, guys, I’ve been given an opportunity in Formula E, can you just give me a bit of a heads-up on what the cars like – and they were super helpful,” he said.
“Obviously Felix is a little bit out of it for a few seasons, but it doesn’t sound like it changed all that much and the fundamentals are still the same.
“Robin is very experienced with the latest Formula E car, and they were a great help just to give me a basic understanding of the way to drive the car because it is quite different compared to GT3 or Formula Three or DTM.”
Dennis was briefly a team-mate with Gunther in 2015 and 2017 when the pair drove for the Prema Powerteam operation in F3.
“I’ve asked him plenty of questions just to try speed up my learning curve,” says Dennis.
“He was open and helpful because he wants me to be up to speed and wants me to push the programme as much as he is, so we can develop the car and ourselves.”
Several drivers have struggled getting to grips with the Gen 2 car and the idiosyncrasies of both qualifying and race strategies over the last two seasons.
“It doesn’t surprise me to be honest, as the car is very unique in the way you drive it and if you struggle to adapt to that driving style, then you just will not be fast in the car and it changes so much,” said Dennis.
“So far, so good for me in terms of the testing I’ve done but which has been very little. The pace seems to be there.”
Dennis confirmed to The Race that he has gained full BMW factory status, but that he would prefer to focus on Formula E until at least the end of his first campaign before seeking a parallel programme.
“I think the best thing for me right now is to focus purely on Formula E,” he said.
“There are other things out there, which I could probably do, in terms of GTs, etc. But to be honest, I think from now until July I’ll very much just be focused on Formula E, and then maybe something from July onwards.
“It’s hard enough jumping between cars at the best of times, let alone during your rookie season when you don’t know a single circuit.”
