Elevated expectations for CUPRA KIRO ahead of Shanghai E-Prix
CUPRA KIRO targeting a return to the podium at the 2025 Shanghai E-Prix following breakthrough weekend in Tokyo
Since holding its inaugural race on the streets of Beijing in 2014, Formula E has long held a relationship with China, and this weekend, will head to the Shanghai International Circuit for the 2025 Shanghai E-Prix.
Marking the 10th and 11th rounds of the 2024/25 season, the double-header Shanghai E-Prix represents a key weekend of the campaign, and the final part of an intensive calendar run featuring three race weekends in a condensed five-week period.
After soaring to a historic first podium in Formula E at the Tokyo E-Prix, CUPRA KIRO heads to Shanghai with high aspirations and one clear goal – scoring more points for its campaign tally and, if possible, returning to the top three.
Discover The Circuit
The Shanghai International Circuit is one of the fastest tracks on the 2024/25 calendar, and last year, heralded Formula E’s return to China for the first time since Season 5 in 2019.
The track, recently resurfaced, has a long, winding layout but its four constant-radius corners – most notably Turns 1 and 2 – means that Shanghai places an immense amount of stress on tyres, making both tyre preparation and tyre management critical.
Shanghai’s two races, one featuring Pit Boost and one without, will place different energy demands on strategy, but as always in Formula E, energy efficiency will remain as a key performance factor across the weekend.
Last Time Out
The 2025 Tokyo E-Prix was a landmark race weekend for CUPRA KIRO, with the team ending its wait for silverware by fighting to its first podium in the FIA Formula E World Championship.
After showing breakthrough pace in Monaco two weeks earlier, the team went to Japan safe in the knowledge that an upturn in performance was just around the corner, and from FP1 onwards, potential was always on show.
For Round 8 on Saturday, wet weather made Tokyo’s already technical track even more challenging, but by keeping his nose clean, driver, Dan Ticktum, fought forward to claim a well-executed fifth place.
CUPRA KIRO built on this on Sunday, and by qualifying second, Dan put himself in a prime position. He battled well, executed perfectly, and finished third to end his own personal 57-race wait for silverware.
For David Beckmann, ill-timed caution periods which coincided with his Attack Mode activations limited his progress, but after claiming his best result of the year in Round 9, his hopes are running high heading to Shanghai.
Hear From CUPRA KIRO
Alex Hui, Team Principal, CUPRA KIRO
“Since entering the second phase of the season, the positive environment within the team has been building, and after the podium, we’re coming to Shanghai with our optimism, energy, and confidence at an all-time high. Dan’s podium in Tokyo was nothing short of an incredible achievement, and it came down to teamwork, and the immense amount of effort that everyone has put in so far this season. We’ve now reached a stage where we not only know that we have the pace and potential to reach our goals, but we also understand what it takes to achieve them. That’s something we can apply to everything we do. Shanghai is the final part of the most intensive and demanding period of 2025, and we’re ready to push hard and give the weekend our all ahead of a small break before Jakarta.”
Dan Ticktum, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“Shanghai is a very different style of track compared to what we’ve just had in Monaco and Tokyo. It’s quite a fun circuit to drive, it’s very fast and I think the racing will be good with lots of overtaking. Strategy is going to be very important. I feel more confident in our pace on street circuits, and this year, I feel like we haven’t been quite as competitive on open tracks, but we’ll see. It’s nice to have a few races effectively back-to-back, and it’s good to get a bit of a rhythm going.”
David Beckmann, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“I’m really looking forward to racing in Shanghai. It’s a very futuristic city, innovative, and it fits very well with Formula E. As a purpose-built facility, the track is very different to what we had in Monaco and Tokyo and is very fast. In Season 10, there was a lot of tyre degradation, and this will be a very important factor to manage over the weekend. On my side, we’ve been very unlucky over the past few races, but the car is really fast and with Dan securing his first podium, we’re seeing our hard work pay off. Now, we just need to keep our momentum going, have a clean weekend, and hopefully, get a double points finish.”
Russell O’Hagan, Driver, CUPRA KIRO
“The Shanghai E-Prix is the start of the second half of this season, and I’m very proud of the work that everyone has put in to reach this point. When we entered our recent run of races, our primary goal was to build some momentum, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Since Monaco, we’ve made it into the duels four times, we’ve had the pace to fight inside the top three, and we also had our breakthrough first podium as a team. We can use that result as a springboard for this weekend, and hopefully, we can continue to build upon our potential as we approach the business end of the year.”
Follow The Action
On-track action for the 2025 Shanghai E-Prix will take place from Friday 30 May to Sunday 1 June, with the circuit hosting rounds 10 and 11 of the 16-race 2024/25 season.
To find out where to watch the double-header Shanghai E-Prix in your home country, click here.