Kiro team principal Hui enthusiastic about Porsche powertrain: "This car is fully capable to win a race"

It was one of the big surprises ahead of the eleventh Formula E season: Team Kiro, which previously ran under the name ERT, switched to Porsche drives and became the German sports car manufacturer's second customer team. The team hoped to make significant progress with the previous year's drive system from Weissach, which was certainly visible in the first half of the season.

"The experience with the Porsche powertrain is actually very, very good," describes Kiro team boss Alex Hui when asked by e-Formula.news. "We don't have the same car as they have, but I think in some race we have been as competitive as the Porsche factory team or quicker than Andretti in a few occasions."

"Now we slowly start to understand the car better," he continues. However, there is one major snag that prevents the team from building on the knowledge the manufacturer has gathered over the last two years. "The last year data of Porsche is a reference, but they never raced this car with the new tyres."

"We need to learn this slightly differences"

This is not the only reason why the team has some difficulties in terms of comparability, although the powertrain is still extremely competitive despite its age.

"We believe that this car is fully capable to win a race," he is certain. "The main thing that makes our life a little bit harder, because our two cars are not the same, you can't copy and paste the settings. The car is not 100 per cent but just 90 per cent the same. So you got some 10 or maybe 15 per cent of differences. We need to learn this slightly differences."

"By Gen4, if we carry on with Porsche, we will have the same hardware as them," but he sees the current status as just a snapshot. "Now we have the old car because they can't make the new car in time. We started the discussions in April, and they can't get involved in four or five months."

"My goal is winning races in Gen4"

"So, in Gen4 we hopefully have a long relationship carrying on," he hopes. He sees the collaboration with Porsche as a long-term project. "It's not like us moving to Porsche just this year. My goal is winning races and fighting top 3 in Gen4."

However, that is not yet a done deal. "We have not make our final decisions for the Gen4 partner. But we will make it before the end of the season - June or July will be the right time."

"We are currently happy with Porsche & Cupra"

Further collaboration also makes sense for Hui from a commercial perspective. "In the moment we are really happy with the Cupra partnership," he describes. "Obviously Porsche and Cupra they are both from the same group (Volkswagen). So we hope to build on that partnership."

Porsche is not the only option for the team, however, he admits: "But there are also other opportunities in the paddock which we know and which we're exploring. But we are really happy with the Porsche and Cupra relationships."

The next race for Cupra Kiro will be the Shanghai E-Prix, which takes place next weekend as a "double-header". After nine of 16 races, the team is currently in 10th place in the teams' standings.