Abt Cupra: More Partners at the Season Start

Abt Cupra takes off: The South German-Spanish-Indian team has spent five days preparing for the new Formula E season at the official test drives, just like all other competitors. The season starts on January 14 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the heart of Mexico City. In the process, the team publicly presented the ZF logo on the new generation of its race car for the first time in Valencia, Spain. The globally active technology group headquartered in Friedrichshafen will be the technical partner of Abt and will work closely with the racing team for its Formula E comeback.

ZF is responsible for Mahindra's powertrain

“Abt and ZF have been working successfully together in many racing series for a long time. Therefore, we are very pleased that our two brands are now forming a team in Formula E and also have joint ideas for the future,” says Thomas Biermaier, CEO of Abt Sportsline and team manager of Abt Cupra FE, adding:

“The experience and expertise of ZF in developing the powertrain, as well as the geographical proximity of our two companies, played an important role in the decision to choose Mahindra Racing as the manufacturer.”

As a partner of Mahindra Racing, ZF is responsible for the development of the powertrain, which Abt also uses as a Mahindra customer team this season in the cars of Robin Frijns and Nico Müller. “In the new season, Formula E is really taking off with more powerful vehicles and four new race tracks. We are therefore very proud that our electric ZF powertrain will be used in ABT’s return to Formula E,” says Sascha Ricanek, Managing Director of ZF Race Engineering, hoping:

“Even though the starting field in this series is always extremely balanced, we hope to achieve a lot together in the coming season.”

Also, Südpack is “sticking” on board

 Another company that Abt's sports marketing head Harry Unflath has brought on board the Formula E project and is prominently represented with its logo on the race car is Südpack. The company is a leading manufacturer of high-performance films for packaging food, medical goods, and non-food products, as well as for technical applications, and has been a partner of Abt’s DTM team for two years. “We are pleased that our family of partners is continuing to grow for the comeback,” says Unflath, adding:

“Interest is high and I am confident that we will be able to announce one or two more news items at the start of the season.”

The joint test drives of all teams were also the dress rehearsal for the start of the season: From Valencia, all race cars and equipment go directly on their journey to Mexico. “It’s great to see our Formula E comeback becoming a reality step by step,” says Hans-Jürgen Abt, CEO of Abt SE, thanking the team:

“The team presented itself excellently on and off the track in Valencia – my thanks go to the entire team for the hard work that has been necessary in the past weeks and months.”

A completely new team has to come together at Abt Cupra: Apart from Abt and Mahindra, there was little Formula E experience.

For Abt Cupra FE, it wasn't about fast lap times in Spain, but rather about getting the newly formed team to work together and continually train the processes and collaboration with Mahindra. "We tried to make the best use of the time to work through our to-do list," says Thomas Biermaier, and plans:

"Now we have a lot of work in the weeks leading up to the start to analyze all the data and travel to Mexico as prepared as possible."

For Robin Frijns and Nico Müller, it was their first days in their own race cars in Valencia. Previously, they had only completed a few kilometers in Mahindra Racing's test car. Frijns is excited:

"New car, new colors, new team, and a new teammate – even though I've been in Formula E for a long time, everything is new for me."

The racing driver adds:

"The list of challenges for our team is long; this hasn't changed after the test days here. But we've achieved a lot and are getting to know our car better and better."

While Frijns has been involved in Formula E in recent years, it's a bit of a comeback for his teammate: Nico Müller last competed in the seventh season in Monaco. He explains:

"We completed a lot of laps, got well-rehearsed as a team, and have come increasingly closer. The excitement is building."

What does this mean?

Abt wanted to return to Formula E and is doing so consistently: With Mahindra, Cupra, ZF, and now Südpack, they have partly experienced partners and sponsors. The results are also somewhat fitting: Frijns managed to place his Abt-Cupra racer in the top ten during the first tests.