In recent months Colton Herta and Kalle Rovanpera have shifted from comfortable but very different environments in IndyCar and the World Rally Championship to Formula 2 and Super Formula respectively.
There is another potential shape-shifting career move that has already begun in a way. It is the tantalising prospect of recently crowned DTM champion Ayhancan Guven becoming a Formula E driver.
With Rene Rast, Gary Paffett, Nico Mueller and Robin Frijns having all made similar transitions of sorts from the DTM to Formula E, perhaps this should not be too surprising.
But when you consider that Guven has absolutely zero single-seater experience and began his career aged 19 in national Porsche Carrera Cup racing, this is an intriguing, multi-faceted story.
Guven first simulator tested for Porsche earlier this year and off the back of that he was given a test seat in Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche 99X Electric FE car. There were no huge expectations for Guven at the Tempelhof test but he ended it second overall ahead of drivers already with Formula E testing experience and significant single-seater and F1 ladder background such as Jak Crawford, Frederik Vesti and Theo Pourchaire.
In the context of experience levels, this was quite something. And not only was the pace real, but Porsche engineers were also astounded by his natural feel and feedback capacity during his test.
The 57.654s lap was 0.204s quicker than Wehrlein’s fastest in the previous day’s qualifying, although track conditions were more favourable for the Monday test.
Guven’s racing form in 2025 was equally sensational, as evidenced by his remarkable all or nothing pass on Marco Wittman which underlined his DTM title win at Hockenheim.
So, the questions about Guven and Formula E have naturally bubbled to the surface and The Race asked Porsche’s Formula E Director of Formula E, Florian Modlinger, if the Turkish ace could be the next big discipline straddler?
“You have to look at the individual athletes first,” Modlinger replied.
“What is their background? What is their driving style? Are they used to adapt to new cars? Or do they try to adapt the car to their driving style?
“Those are the key questions. I've worked a lot in the past with all-rounders. Rene Rast came from [Carrera] Cup cars where he needed to adjust to difficult driving cars.
“I was a long time race engineer for Mattias Ekstrom, who is one of the best examples of how quickly you can adapt from a class one car to a rallycross car to a Dakar car.
“There are individuals who are adapting themselves to the needs of the car, and that's a key skill you need to have if you have your own driving style and you want to bring the cars to you, it could be more difficult.”
That key skill of adapting to the cars and new environments quickly is something that Guven undoubtedly has done. It’s one that sometimes leads Modlinger’s core decision-making when it comes to drivers.
“I'm really trying to observe and to get an answer on how quickly a driver can adapt to a simulator and then to a new car when doing a rookie test," he added.
Guven passed those tests with flying colours, so could he be a nice fit for the Gen4 era beginning at the end of 2026? With Porsche having committed to Mueller, who will be integrated into the Gen4 development testing, that might be a stretch. But Guven certainly has a chance, should he wish to take it on.
But with the hype there is also a warning. Formula E isn’t just about driving a car on the limit. The multiple inputs that come from a communication to engineer and adjustments in the car, allied to the all-important energy management juggling, can break as well as make races and Formula E careers.
“When you race the Formula E car on the limit of the car, you need to have some brain capacities available to do other things with all the functions, the systems that are active in the car you need to be able to judge what is happening at the moment in this car,” says Modlinger.
He stays clear of enthusing too much on Guven but it feels like what he achieved at the rookie test in July, and the fact that he brought Manthey Porsche a DTM title, could lift Guven to new heights sooner rather than later.
