Fraser MasefieldReigning ABB Formula E champions DS TECHEETAH has given the world a first look at the machine in which it hopes to continue its impressive electric racing success story.
The Chinese-owned outfit completed and unprecedented team and driver double in Season 5, with Jean-Eric Vergne claiming his second title in New York after arguably the most exciting season to date.
This year, Vergne has a new teammate in the form of Antonio Felix da Costa and it was the job of the Portuguese to give the new DS E-Tense FE20 livery its first outing during a filming day at Calafat.
“The DS E-Tense FE20 is a design evolution from our championship winning car,” commented Keith Smout, DS Techeetah’s chief commercial officer. “We wanted to stay true to our past and continue to celebrate and honor our success by keeping the now iconic gold and black livery whilst fighting for more titles.”
The striking black and gold livery has always been a fan favourite and now features some subtle changes, including a pattern of cheetah heads in support of The Big Cat Sanctury, as well as two laurel wreaths for the team championships and two golden stars on Vergne’s car to celebrate his drivers’ titles.
“If you look closely, you can see that the pattern is made out of our cheetah head logo, which also nods to our continued efforts in supporting The Big Cat Sanctuary’s fight in saving the cheetahs and other big cats. A topic that is more pressing than ever and a cause that is close to our hearts,” adds Smout.
Under the pretty cosmetics lies the all-important technology that the team hopes will propel it to yet more success on the circuit, as DS Performance director Xavier Mestelan Pinon explains.
“Our engineers have optimized most of the elements by further developing our winning concept rather than completely rethinking the car,” said Pinon.
“The engine, the inverter and the transfer case have evolved, but the deeper changes are in the heart of the embedded systems. All this ambitious research and development work aims to offer the drivers a car that allows them to fight to win and defend both titles in the coming season that starts on Nov. 22 in Riyadh.”
DS TECHEETAH next heads to Valencia, for four days of pre-season testing on October 15 before the season opener in Ad Diriyah.
Motorsport Technology
