Formula E: The French are champions (but who knows it?)
Committed to the long process intended to establish it as a credible competitor in the high -end, DS is also double champion in the title of Formula E. Alas, the information is still struggling to pass ...
24/09/2022
Engaged in the long process intended to establish it as a credible competitor in the top of the range, DS is also the reigning double champion of Formula E. Unfortunately, the information is still struggling to pass on to the general public .
The car of the day is therefore an electric with a (very) sporty vocation, and French moreover. It is indeed the DS E-TENSE FE20 which will take the start of the Diriyah E-Prix (Saudi Arabia) on Friday, the first stage of the 2021 Formula E world championship.So it's tomorrow Friday, February 26 will be the kick-off of the seventh season of the Formula E championship. If the level of performance is not that of Formula 1, these electric single-seaters ensure the spectacle by offering superb grips on the track, while energy management obliges pilots and team to adopt real strategies which bring even more salt to the exercise.
The other interest is that French people shine there, which almost no one is aware of except motorsport enthusiasts. The tricolor manufacturer DS Automobiles, associated with the Chinese team Techeetah since 2018, is indeed double defending champion on the manufacturers' side, while the Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne and the Portuguese António Félix da Costa were crowned drivers title respectively in 2019 and 2020 (Vergne had also been titled with Techeetah - but without DS - during the 2017-2018 season).
The novelty of this 2020 season is that the competition is adopting the name of world championship, which gives it an additional aura: “this will be the first season as a world championship and I am more motivated than ever. Who wouldn't want to be the first Formula E world champion in history? enthuses António Félix da Costa.
DS favorite this season
Sorrows will object that Audi and BMW have already announced their intention to abandon ship at the end of this season, on the pretext that the technological bridges between this discipline and their production models are too thin and do not justify the investments made. However, some big names are still there and there, such as Porsche, Jaguar or Nissan, while McLaren is showing interest in next season.
Let's go to Diriyah, in Saudi Arabia, for the first two races (at night) of a season 7 in which the Franco-Chinese team is the favorite. The pandemic having shaken up working methods, the team will start the season by fielding the DS E-TENSE FE20 which won last year, before launching a new car during the season.
In the longer term, DS, whose quest for top-of-the-range credibility also involves sporting success, has announced that it will continue its commitment to Formula E until 2026. The manufacturer is targeting cars from third generation (or Gen3) which will be launched for the 2022-2023 season, with a power of 350 kW, against 250 currently, and a weight reduced to 780 kilos including the driver, against 900 currently. In motorsport too, the electric is making its nest.