Gary Paffett becomes new race director at Cupra Kiro

The Cupra Kiro Formula E team is strengthening its leadership and management team with the appointment of Gary Paffett as Race Director at the start of the 2025-26 season. With the appointment of the British motorsport veteran, the team is gaining enormous experience and expertise.

After retiring from active racing, Paffett continued his career in Formula E at Mercedes-EQ as a Sporting and Technical Advisor and later as Team Manager. During this time, he was able to celebrate the two consecutive Formula E world championships of Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne with the team. When the team was sold to McLaren, he took on the role of Sports Director. Following the demise of the McLaren team, his next professional challenge is now as Race Director at Kiro.

"When the team approached me about this opportunity, I immediately realised that they were building something ambitious and future-oriented", said Paffett. "I look forward to working closely with Russell (O'Hagan, COO at Kiro), Alex (Hui, Team Principal), the drivers and the whole team to help shape the next phase of Cupra Kiro's development and ensure we are in the best possible position to continue to race at the front."

Paffett is "just the first step in a series of planned new additions to the Cupra Kiro management team", the team explains. Paffett won the DTM title in 2005 and 2018 with Mercedes, was a test driver for McLaren in Formula 1 from 2005 to 2014 and made his Formula E debut with HWA Racelab in the 2018-19 season.