CUPRA KIRO faces tough second race in Berlin
CUPRA KIRO shines in Qualifying but endures a challenging afternoon in Berlin
CUPRA KIRO showed promise in Round 14 of the 2024/25 Formula E season, with Dan Ticktum starring in Qualifying to start from second before the squad faced a challenging afternoon in Berlin.
The team pieced together a strong Qualifying performance, with Dan starting from the front row of the grid after advancing to the Final stage of the duels while team-mate, David Beckmann, lined up 12th.
Dan and David ran in formation during the opening phase of the race, with David using an early Attack Mode activation to press forward to the front of the field and briefly lead his home race.
Facing high energy consumption by running at the front, the duo faded as drivers who were able to be more conservative in the early phases progressed. Dan finished 15th and David was 17th, while Oliver Rowland and Nissan claimed a hard-fought World Drivers’ Championship title.
Quotes at a Glance
Alex Hui: “Today’s result doesn’t fairly reflect the potential we showed.”
Dan Ticktum: “We need to go to London and grab a load of points.”
David Beckmann: “We had a lot of potential, but we just went in the wrong direction.”
Russell O'Hagan: “It’s a tough result to stomach.”
Alex Hui, Team Principal, CUPRA KIRO
“When a race doesn’t go according to plan, it’s easy to write it off as a day to forget, but today’s result doesn’t fairly reflect the potential that we showed earlier. Our performance in Qualifying was one of the best we’ve delivered all season, and with Dan starting from the front row and David just outside the top 10, we were in good shape heading into the race. We used two slightly different strategies across both cars, and it was working very well at the start, so it’s disappointing to not come away with the result that we felt we were capable of. It’s on the challenging days that we learn the most, and we’ll review the weekend in detail, regroup, reset, and turn our focus on delivering a strong end to the season in London.”
Dan Ticktum, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“Qualifying was very good today. We had a very difficult morning with the track conditions constantly changing, and I think we reacted as well as we could in those scenarios. In the duels, the track really dried up and we still had a wet setup on. If we had our dry setup on, I think we could have been even more competitive. It was good up until that point, and in the race, we collectively got our strategy wrong, and we went backwards towards the end. Now, we need to go to London and grab a load of points.”
David Beckmann, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“Today we had a better starting position than Saturday and we had quite a lot of potential, but overall looking back, we just went in the wrong direction with the strategy. We were at the front for a few laps but I used a lot of energy to move forward and using the Attack Mode early meant that it was difficult to defend against other drivers at the end. I’m sorry for the team that we had to go through this, because we put a lot of effort in and did a good job this weekend. London is a very different track to Berlin, and hopefully, we can fight back in the finale.”
Russell O’Hagan, Chief Operating Officer, CUPRA KIRO
“A complex race today in which being at the front carried a high cost, relative to those who could be more conservative further back in the first half. It’s a tough result to stomach because we did a lot well off the back of a strong Qualifying performance. Today highlights just how multi-dimensional Formula E is – it hurts right now, but it’s part of an addictive challenge that we all embrace. A big congratulations to Oliver Rowland and Nissan on taking the Drivers’ Championship – they put together a good season, and its well deserved. Now we need to debrief, then look forward to tomorrow’s Rookie Test tomorrow with Bianca [Bustamante] and Callum [Voisin].”
