Who will drive for the newly renamed Kiro Race Co team in Formula E testing at Valencia in less than two weeks' time, let alone next season?
It’s the last big driver market question, and it might just have a major twist.
The team, renamed now it has new owners, is positioning itself to spring a late driver market surprise by replacing Sergio Sette Camara after two seasons.
The Race has learned that Porsche reserve driver David Beckmann (pictured below) will test for the team at Valencia next month in what would essentially be an audition to secure a seat alongside Dan Ticktum.
The team will definitely continue with Ticktum after it secured its long-term future earlier this month when it was bought out by the Forest Road investment company and completed a deal to run year-old Porsche powertrains.
Ticktum shook down the first Porsche-powered Kiro car last week.
Sette Camara had been widely expected to remain in place for a third-straight season alongside Ticktum. But recent developments have led to the possibility of him being replaced with a Porsche-affiliated driver growing significantly.
Kiro management had held talks with former Nissan driver Sacha Fenestraz, who was released from his contract in September. Those talks ended recently, with Fenestraz likely to get a seat in endurance racing or Super GT next season.
The team is not believed to have been pursuing an American driver in light of now having US owners and racing under an American licence.
Sette Camara is still understood to be an option for the team but there are certain pressures on Kiro to at least explore the possibility of signing a Porsche-affiliated driver, likely either official reserve driver Beckmann or 2023 DTM champion Thomas Preining.
Porsche Formula E motorsport director Florian Modlinger insisted it was "clearly" Kiro's choice on who it put in the car, but added without naming him directly that Beckmann was someone "who in the past years knows the systems, knows the car and knows the Porsche approach".
"He is in discussions with the team," Modlinger told The Race. "But it's up to them and this means the team need to agree or to don't agree, or to convince or not convince.
"In my opinion, he deserves a fair chance, as he showed in the past what he can do. But it's clearly up to the team and up to himself to take this opportunity or not."
Kiro stated to The Race that it would not comment on its driver selection at this stage and that its "drivers will be announced in due course".
Teams have until November 15 to nominate their drivers for the 2024-25 season.
The alternatives to Sette Camara
The favourite: David Beckmann
Beckmann has served as a Porsche reserve for the factory team and also for Andretti, with whom he made his Formula E debut in Jakarta in June 2023 when he replaced Le Mans 24 Hours test day-bound Andre Lotterer.
He was thrust into the role with several test days behind him with both teams but generally failed to impress in his two outings, scoring a 16th place in one race and crashing out of the other.
The 24-year-old, who became a Porsche-affiliated driver in 2022, continued in his reserve role for Porsche and Andretti last season but only made a handful of race appearances elsewhere since his Jakarta cameo.
That will be one very good reason why Porsche is desperate to find a berth for him and a low-key seat (if there is such a thing in Formula E) at Kiro might be possible should he impress and gel with the team at Valencia.
The intriguing option: Thomas Preining
Should Porsche look elsewhere among its roster of drivers, few have racing experience in Formula E.
But another contender could be Preining, who is highly rated by key Porsche management.
The Austrian has tested for Porsche on several occasions, most recently in the official rookie test at Berlin Tempelhof in May.
He last raced single-seaters in 2016 when he competed in Formula 4 against the likes of Mick Schumacher and Juri Vips. He switched to the Porsche Super Cup and Carrera Cup thereafter before becoming a Porsche young driver and then a factory driver in 2018.
The wildcard: Marta Garcia
Inaugural F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia was set to test for Kiro at Valencia in the all-female session but has since been taken, in a surprise move, by Porsche alongside sometime tester Gabriela Jilkova.
There appears to have been an agreement between Kiro and Porsche for Garcia to be shifted to the manufacturer team for Valencia, with regular Porsche tester Simona de Silvestro set to go the other way and run for Kiro in Spain.
That seems counterintuitive for Garcia to be seriously considered for any possible race seat alongside Ticktum, although becoming the first female driver to race in Formula E for almost a decade - since de Silvestro - would bring the new US-based Kiro owners almost unprecedented publicity.
Garcia though is, at best, a rank outsider for the seat and is more likely to develop her relationship with the team as a simulator and test driver in 2025 in conjunction with her activities with the Iron Dames organisation.
