New Techeetah driver Andre Lotterer has said that he is aiming to win in his debut Formula E season.
Despite admitting that he has a steep learning curve ahead of him, the former WEC champion said he hoping to be competitive right from the off.
“As a driver, you always aim for the top, even as a rookie. Otherwise you wouldn’t be a racer,” said Lotterer. “So that is what I will be aiming for.
“There will be a steep learning curve right from the beginning, but I’ve got a really good team behind me and we have done non-stop prep to be as ready as possible for the Hong Kong E-Prix, where we will give it all we’ve got.”
However Lotterer was unsure as to where his Techeetah team would be in the pecking order, saying that he would have to wait until after this weekend’s Hong Kong ePrix to make a judgement on it.
He said, “I think we need to complete the double-header races in Hong Kong to see where we are compared to the teams around us.
“As although the testing showed us some things, it wasn’t necessarily a representative track for the street racing we do throughout the season.”
Techeetah Team Principal Mark Preston was more confident about his team’s form, but said that they would have to work hard to stay ahead of the growing number of manufacturer backed outfits.
Preston commented, “We have one of the best powertrains in the paddock and the goal is to optimise it as quickly as possible, so that we can be as competitive as we were last year.
“We learnt a lot in our first year of Formula E and we are looking forward to applying all those learnings this season. It was obvious from the official team testing in Valencia that all teams have taken a big step forward.
“As a private team, this simply means that we have to be even more efficient to be on par with the other manufacturer backed teams and to fight at the top.”
