Edorado Mortara will make his Formula E debut this year alongside Maro Engel as Venturi announced their driver line-up today.
While Engel had been expected to continue with the team after a strong debut season, Mortara took part in a shootout alongside James Rossiter during the official test in Valenica a few weeks ago.
Despite gearbox issues effecting each driver’s running, the team opted to go with Mortara who makes the move from DTM.
It means that Venturi will field two Mercedes DTM divers next season, but the team’s Chief Technical Officer Frank Baldet told Autosport that this was merely a coincidence, and not a sign of a future tie-up.
He said, “Mercedes announced they will stop the DTM so they don’t want to lose these drivers and is finding where there are some empty seats.
“We were one of the teams that had two empty seats, so it doubled our chance to have a Mercedes driver.”
Mortara makes the move after a disappointing season in DTM. After narrowly missing out on the title in 2016 with Audi, the Italian made the move to Mercedes but was only able to achieve one podium finish throughout the 2017 season.
Speaking of his new driver line-up, Venturi President Gildo Pallanca said, “Formula E grows bigger every day. That’s why this team is now more solid than ever.
“After a year working together, continuing with Maro was the obvious choice. As for Edoardo, on the one hand he has an impressive record, and on the other, testing convinced us of both his human qualities and driving ability.”
