After ending the Formula E collaboration with ABT: Cupra launches multi-year title partnership with Kiro

The ERT team, renamed Kiro Race Co following a change of ownership a few weeks ago, has announced another name change: After finalising a multi-year partnership with Cupra, the team will now officially race under the name Cupra Kiro. The team made the announcement in a press release on Tuesday. The Spanish brand of the Volkswagen Group will thus remain in Formula E after being title sponsor of ABT for the past two years.

In the week before the season opener, there is another change at the team. A few days earlier, the official FIA entry list confirmed the driver lineup David Beckmann and Daniel Ticktum, although the team had not yet officially announced any drivers. This was only done on Monday, five days before the start of the season.

As the team has now announced, Cupra will officially act as co-title partner of the squad, which is almost completely reorganised following the sale of Shanghai Lisheng Racing to The Forest Road Company: With last year's customer engines from Porsche, there is a new powertrain supplier and the use of self-developed powertrains is now history. Instead of racing under the Chinese flag, the team is now also racing under a US entry. Instead of Sergio Sette Camara, Porsche driver David Beckmann will drive the number 3 car. Only Dan Ticktum remains as a constant. The Brit is entering his fourth season with the team.

"Welcoming Cupra as our Co-Title Partner as part of a multi-year collaboration represents an incredible milestone for Kiro, especially at such an early stage in our Formula E journey," said Jeremy Tarica, Managing Director of The Forest Road Company. "Our partnership starts in motorsport, but it extends far beyond it - it's united by a shared belief in the desire to challenge the status quo by disrupting and leading change in our respective fields. We will start our new chapter together as Cupra Kiro at this weekend's Sao Paulo E-Prix, and I can't begin to express my excitement on behalf of The Forest Road Company."

"Joining Kiro Race Co is the logical next step for Cupra," says Xavi Serra, Global Head of Racing at Cupra. "By combining our technical know-how and software expertise with Porsche Manufacturer Components, we are fully prepared to compete at the highest level. Our commitment to Formula E comes from our racing DNA and the format's ability to give us a competitive platform to develop the future of electric cars."

Cupra Kiro has set itself the goal of doing better in the 2024/25 season after the team finished the pre-season in eleventh and therefore last place in the teams' standings. The results of the pre-season tests in Madrid, where Ticktum and Beckmann finished second and fourth, give reason to hope that the team has caught up with the midfield.