Cupra Kiro Team Principal Alex Hui has praised the “quality” of the Porsche powertrain, as the team adapts to being a customer for the German marque after many years of being a standalone manufacturer.
The team, now operating under an American licence, has undergone a big rebrand, its sixth since its days as China Racing back in Season 1 of the all-electric series.
Acquired by the American investment firm, The Forest Road Company, Kiro, since this interview, has announced an expansion of its ownership with the introduction of the Powerhouse Investor Group, which includes Hollywood actor Idris Elba amongst its personnel.
One key change has been, for the first time, moving away from being an OEM into being a customer operation, and there was perhaps no better place to look than to Porsche, which produced the powertrain that took Pascal Wehrlein to title glory last season for the works team.
The change has seemingly shown the benefits already, with longstanding driver Dan Ticktum taking eighth place at the opening round in São Paulo.
Despite the second round in Mexico being a non-points finish, there was reasons to be cheerful, with Ticktum’s new team-mate David Beckmann running in the top 10 for large parts of the race.
Speaking to Motorsport Week, Hui said that whilst some aspects of running the team have largely stayed the same, there are some differences to the overall operation.
“In terms of operation, it’s not really hugely changed – you’re still operating two race cars,” he said. “The main difference compared to being a customer and manufacturer is when you are a manufacturer, you know your car inside out in terms of what you have done, the software, you have done much more testing.
“With a customer like now, the main difference is we got less testing. We basically are the user instead of a developer of the car, but the key, like taking a manufacturer’s partner like Porsche, who won the last two Drivers’ Championships [Wehrlein and Jake Dennis, Andretti], we believe the quality of the package is really high.
“And I would say it seems amazing for us. It’s a lot of things we have seen so far in the car that we’re not able to develop ourselves with our own resources in the past, so that’s hugely positive.”
‘Good relationship’ with Porsche key to landing ‘best prepared’ option Beckmann
When the team transitioned into Kiro, speculation was rife as to who would partner Ticktum, who always seemed destined to retain his drive.
Opting to not retain Sergio Sette Camara – now Nissan’s reserve driver – the team went for Porsche’s reservist David Beckmann, and Hui said that the links between the two teams enabled the union to go ahead.
“He’s integrated really well to the team,” Hui said. “He is very easy to work with, really hard-working, really professional. One of the reasons we’ve got him in is when we decided to look for someone outside of Formula E pool, considering we got the relationship with Porsche, he had been prepared by Porsche for two seasons at the reserve.
“So he is the best prepared driver in the Formula E grid at that point.”
‘Quick and competitive’ Ticktum ‘needs to prove himself’
Ticktum is often regarded as a polarising figure, a straight-shooter with his views in and out of the car, perhaps accentuated by some sections of the media as a ‘bad boy’ by some sections of the media.
The reality is that Ticktum is a hugely-popular figure with fans and is often affable and friendly with the media, but Hui recognises that whilst he is a talent, this might be the season the step up needs to be made.
“We always try to get your best possible driver, and to be honest, we were the ones bringing Dan from F2 to a ‘professional career’. We knew Dan’s junior category was always quick and competitive.
“Obviously, he’s got a bit of character that we have to manage, which we are fully prepared for, and I’ve got used to it for a while already, for how to work with him, so we get on quite well.
“But I think for Dan and for us this season, it’s a year to prove ourselves as a team and he needs to prove himself as a driver.
“Obviously, we got the chance to be a bit on a catching-up understanding of a car that is brand new for us, but I think he will need to prove himself this year, basically.”
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