Kiro Race Co will be hoping to dramatically improve their fortunes in Formula E in the 2024/25 season with their new investment and team owners.
The team, formerly known as ERT, have desperately struggled at the back of the grid in recent years. They have finished no higher than ninth in the Teams’ Championship for the past six seasons.
In fact, the team have not scored a podium since the 2017/18 season when Oliver Turvey finished second in Mexico City or a win since the inaugural season in 2014/15, where Nelson Piquet Jr won at Long Beach and Moscow on his way to becoming the first Formula E champion.
ERT were in desperate need of investment to push up the field as their factory powertrain was far behind the rest of the field. Now, the team are under new American ownership and will run under the name Kiro Race Co; their third different name is as many years.
Kiro Race Co will have a ‘very competitive’ 2024/25 season if support is offered to them by Porsche
The new era for the team will see Kiro move away from being a factory team to now being a Porsche customer team. They will be the third team to run Porsche powertrains in Season 11 along with the factory team and Andretti.
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Kiro will use year-old Porsche powertrains in 2024/25, which are the components that guided Pascal Wehrlein to the title in Season 10. According to Porsche director Florian Modlinger, Kiro are at the ‘same stage’ as Andretti were two years ago after the American outfit switched from BMW powertrains in 2022/23.
While the new partnership will no doubt bring an element of excitement, speaking on The Race Formula E Podcast, Sam Smith says Kiro do not have a ‘massive excuse anymore’ and will be competitive if Porsche offer them the support.
“What does it mean? I think on the face of it, it looks and feels exciting that they’ve got a Porsche powertrain.
“Look, we’ll find how good this squad and this group of people is, won’t we? Because there won’t be a massive excuse anymore, there won’t be that kind of ‘we haven’t got the resources, we haven’t got the investment, we haven’t got the powertrain.’
“We know that that powertrain is or will still be competitive, we presume. But, the key to it is going to be what support they’re going to get from Porsche and how they utilise the hardware that isn’t theirs, if you know what I mean.
“If there is the support there, and that the key question I think, then they could have a very competitive season.”
Kiro Race Co are still yet to officially confirm their drivers for Season 11
As the season opener in Sao Paulo fast approaches, the 2024/25 grid is almost complete, with Kiro the only team yet to confirm their drivers.
Last season under the ERT name, the team had Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara has their two drivers. The duo have been teammates for the past two seasons, while Ticktum has spent his three seasons in FE to date with the team.
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The pair could only manage 23 points between them in 2023/24, with Ticktum registering a best finish of fourth at Misano; his best finish in FE to date and his only points finish in Season 10.
Despite the struggles, Kiro look set to retain Ticktum for the 2024/25 season, but it is unclear as to whether Sette Camara will also continue with the team, leaving the second seat up in the air.