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LOTTERER: "formula e is now a proving ground for manufacturers"

PHOTO: theedrive.com

F  RMULA

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Endurance and Formula E racer, Andre Lotterer, shares his views on the importance of Formula E and manufacturer input in motorsport.

24/5/2019

What was your motivation to join Formula E?
- Well the world changed, right? I had a great career, moving up the categories, then having a fantastic experience at Le Mans, racing for big manufacturers, and Le Mans was a very important race for manufacturers as a proving ground. Audi came with direct-injection, diesel cars, then with hybrids, then also Porsche joined with hybrids, but automobile industry changed and manufacturers are using Formula E now as a proving ground for new technology. 
 

It all sped up very quickly, and as a professional driver you are looking at being with manufacturers, and I think that Formula E championship established itself very well as a very high level competition, and I thought that I better join it.
 

How has competing in Formula E and also in Endurance races influenced your driving style?
- Driving style is one thing, but you don't really have much choice with driving style. You need to adapt to the cars. It was a bit difficult in the beginning of last year, because I couldn't test much, we were a private team, so I had to learn at the races. 
 

I benefit much more from the experience that I have working with Audi and Porsche in big structures, where we also had efficiency over a lap and a lot of systems in the car, so it was really good to partner with DS, and be able to be part of the development of this year's car. We implemented our experience in the systems and make sure we can get what we want.
 

How do you look at the development from Gen1 to Gen2 car, and what's your opinion on the Gen2 car?
- It's great. I think it's a huge step, first of all, to do the race with one car, it's really going in the right direction and the car is really strong, it offered great racing and like I said, joining DS was really cool partnership so we could tune, and there is a lot of programming to do with brake-by-wire, so it's a fun car to drive.
 

More-less it's the end of the season. What do you think are the strong features of your car, and what maybe needs to change or improve?
- I think we have a preety good car all-round, I don't think we are extremely good in one sector, so if you look at our average performance we've been always there, not revolutionary, but that is quite important in this championship, so it will be the same case here, to score good points.

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