The Avalanche Andretti Formula E team has announced that Jake Dennis will continue with it into the Gen3 era in 2023, as expected.
Dennis was a two-time race winner and title contender in the squad’s final year as BMW’s works FE team during his rookie season in 2021, then took sixth in this season’s championship.
Though confirmation that the 27-year-old Briton is staying put as Andretti moves into its new era as a Porsche customer is no surprise, earlier this year he was heavily courted by McLaren for its new Formula E entry.
McLaren is taking over the Mercedes FE programme that has won the championship for the past two seasons, and will run Nissan powertrains.
Dennis and his management had discussions with Mercedes team principal Ian James – who is staying on to head up the McLaren project – and at one stage it looked like a deal would be done. Talks continued right up until last month.
But it is understood Dennis could not be easily extricated from his existing Andretti deal and in any case has built a strong relationship with the team and has faith in the incoming Porsche package.
“I started my Formula E journey with Andretti and I’m excited to continue to work with the team that has continued to support my career in this series,” said Dennis.
McLaren has signed former Audi driver Rene Rast for its first FE seat but is still hunting for a team-mate for him given Felix Rosenqvist’s reluctance to leave IndyCar.
Former Nissan FE driver Maximilian Guenther, NIO 333 FE racer and long-time McLaren tester Oliver Turvey, and former Mercedes FE reserve Jake Hughes are the leading candidates there now.
The outstanding question at Andretti is the identity of Dennis’s team-mate.
The Race revealed back in June that Andre Lotterer, who is being replaced in Porsche’s works FE team by former DS Techeetah driver and 2019/20 champion Antonio Felix da Costa, was being positioned for a potential seat at Andretti as it moves to Porsche powertrains.
The conclusion of that deal, which could be announced in September, would mean Lotterer replaces Dennis’s 2022 team-mate Oliver Askew, who was 16th in this year’s standings in his rookie Formula E season.
LIKELY 2023 FORMULA E DRIVER LINE-UP
Maserati: Edoardo Mortara/Nyck de Vries DS Penske: Stoffel Vandoorne/Jean-Eric Vergne Jaguar: Mitch Evans/Sam Bird Envision: Nick Cassidy/Sebastien Buemi Porsche: Antonio Felix da Costa/Pascal Wehrlein Avalanche Andretti: Jake Dennis/Andre Lotterer or Oliver Askew Nissan: Sacha Fenestraz/Norman Nato Mahindra: Lucas di Grassi/Oliver Rowland NIO 333: Options – Oliver Turvey, Dan Ticktum, Jake Hughes, Sergio Sette Camara McLaren: Rene Rast/Jake Hughes or Oliver Turvey or Maximilian Guenther
Techeetah: Future unclear
Keyword: Former Mc Laren target sticks with Andretti for 2023