Starting next season, Andretti will receive the powertrain from Porsche. The teams announced this in the run-up to the Formula E weekend in Berlin. The Americans are switching from BMW to Stuttgart.
On the site of the closed Berlin Tempelhof Airport, those responsible around Andretti team boss Roger Griffiths and Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach announced the cooperation. For the new, ninth season, four Porsche 99X Electric will start in Formula E. The team from the USA will change the drive from BMW to Porsche. Andretti was in charge of Bayern's factory operations until the Munich team left at the end of the seventh season of Formula E. This season Andretti is still starting with the drive train from BMW.
As announced by Laudenbach and Griffiths, the two teams will be working together for at least two years. Roger Griffiths: "The talks began in Saudi Arabia in the seventh season after BMW informed us of their exit. Porsche was our first contact at the time and we noticed from the start that our ideas about motorsport are very close. " The Andretti team boss underlined that despite the partnership, the two teams will "drive against each other as competitors" on the track.
Porsche can use more data
Thanks to the double amount of data, Porsche is hoping for an advantage in terms of performance. Through the shared information, the Swabians believe they can quickly improve their cars.
Laudenbach: "The cooperation brings extra data and an additional exchange for both sides. In Formula E, it's about setting the car 100 percent correctly. Details clearly make the difference. Both sides will benefit greatly from it."
The drivers of the teams also want to benefit from the cooperation from the new season. However, it is not yet known who is sitting in the four Porsches. The only thing that is clear is that Porsche does not want to have any influence on the driver pairing at Andretti. Laudenbach confirmed this during the announcement of the partnership. Roger Griffiths added that Andretti is "very happy" with the current driver pairing Jake Dennis and Oliver Askew. They will discuss the options with Porsche to "avoid conflicts of interest".
Partnerships beyond Formula E possible
Andretti Autosport competes in many racing series. In addition, the Americans are aiming for entry into Formula 1. However, the partnership between Porsche and Andretti is currently focused on Formula E, as Laudenbach says. However, one is "always open" to possible cooperation in other series. Griffiths himself added that they will talk about it when the "opportunities arise for both sides". However, both Porsche and Andretti have their "own independent programs that have their own requirements."
