CUPRA KIRO has mixed first day at 2026 Jeddah E-Prix
CUPRA KIRO just out of the points in Race 1 of double-header 2026 Jeddah E-Prix
CUPRA KIRO narrowly missed out on a top 10 finish at the 2026 Jeddah E-Prix, with Dan Ticktum placing 12th and Pepe Martí finishing 14th in the fourth round of the 2025/26 FIA Formula E World Championship season.
The American squad made a promising start to the weekend by setting the pace in FP2, but unfortunately missed out on the duels in Qualifying, leaving Dan to start from 12th while Pepe lined up 15th.
Pepe made good progress at the start of the race by battling forward to 11th on lap one but was forced to pit after sustaining a puncture following contact with Zane Maloney. Rejoining in 18th, the Spaniard took both Pit Boost and Attack mode late in the race to recover to 14th.
Dan was a consistent presence inside the top 10 throughout the Jeddah E-Prix and after fighting into the points on the first lap, worked his way up the order to run as high as fourth with an early Attack Mode. Unfortunately, the Briton was shuffled back as he managed a derate and the Attack Mode cycle fully played out.
Dan Ticktum, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“In practice, the car was very fast and we were quickest in FP2 but in Qualifying, I made a small mistake in my first run and then I didn’t quite have the tyre for the second lap. The result in Qualifying left us starting outside of the top 10, but we knew that we needed to move forward and that’s exactly what we did. All was going well and then I had derate at 350kW which meant that my Attack Mode was wasted, so it was basically game over. The pace is good this weekend, and onto tomorrow!”
Pepe Martí, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“Quite a difficult race today. The start was great, moving from 15th to 11th on lap one and then unfortunately, I had contact with [Zane] Maloney which punctured my rear right tyre and forced me to box. From there, we managed the race as well as we could but we struggled with the rear tyres, which were heavily worn from practice. It was an unfortunate situation where you can’t do much about it – we didn’t have the pace to move forward, so all we could do was survive. We move, we learn, and we go again tomorrow.”
Russell O’Hagan, Team Principal, CUPRA KIRO
“After showing encouraging pace throughout the weekend so far, it’s disappointing not to come away with a points finish today. The car looked consistently competitive in practice, so to miss out on the duels by such small margins in Qualifying was frustrating. Unfortunately, with the high pace and the ultra-competitive field, it was always going to be challenging to make up more than a few places in the race. We gave ourselves a good chance with Dan, but a slightly compromised Attack Mode inevitably meant we would cycle back down the field. With Pepe, it was a rollercoaster of a race that he navigated well, but with everything that happened, getting into the points was always a step too far. There was a lot learnt today and we go into tomorrow ready to do better.”
