Peugeot WEC driver Mikkel Jensen will make a surprise Formula E appearance for the CUPRA KIRO team at the upcoming rookie on the eve of the Jeddah E-Prix next week.
The Dane will sample the CUPRA KIRO run Porsche in what will be his first run in a single seater since competing in the 2016 European F3 Series for the Mucke Motorsport team, ironically with David Beckmann who races for CUPRA KIRO this season.
Jensen has majored on endurance racing over the last nine seasons winning the 2019 ELMS LMP3 category and the 2021 IMSA LMP2 championship with Eurointernational and PR1 Mathiason Motorsport respectively.
“FP0 in Jeddah will mark the first time I’ve driven a single seater racing car since racing in European Formula 3 in 2016, and I’m looking forward to the experience of driving a Formula E car for the first time,” said Jensen, who will share a Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar with DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne and former F1 driver Paul di Resta.
“Formula E has interested me for a while now, and from my time preparing in the simulator, the car feels completely different to anything I’ve experienced before in my career. I would like to thank CUPRA KIRO for giving me this opportunity – I can’t wait to get started.”
CUPRA KIRO’s Alex Hui added that “Mikkel is one of the best sportscar drivers of our generation and has consistently proven himself across WEC, IMSA, and ELMS in recent seasons.”
“Alongside his strong natural instincts, which are important for any racing driver, Mikkel has good technical awareness and understanding, and holds extensive experience working with manufacturers at a World Championship level.
“His perspective and experiences will be important for FP0, which will be crucial to the continued development of our technical package for this season. I’m very excited for him to have his first experience of Formula E in Jeddah, and I can’t wait to see what he can do.”
An Unconventional Choice
It surely won’t be lost on many that Mikkel Jensen – a Stellantis contracted driver – completing a free practice session for a team running Porsche hardware and software is a little odd.
To be fair, it is. Jensen has not raced a single-seater for almost a decade and CUPRA KIRO had a pick of at least half a dozen drivers that might be seen as more relevant and less contentious. Not that Jensen is being particularly viewed as such by either the team or its now manufacturer partner Porsche.
But surely Jensen’s knowledge of some aspects of the Porsche 99X Electric have been masked for his eyes only, especially in the sim?
That would be relatively normal for a driver paid by a rival motorsport manufacturer But what else does this curious deal say, or might what it say for the future?
Conspiracy laden hypothesis such as Jensen is on Porsche’s shopping list, Peugeot have already notified its drivers to look elsewhere for employment in 2026, or that CUPRA KIRO is getting one back at Porsche for strong arming them in to taking David Beckmann, should be treated with kid gloves.
Could it just be a team wanting to get a second opinion on something and wanting to use a driver that has recent development experience with a major OEM, something which only one of its drivers has, albeit with Beckmann it wasn’t exactly intensive with Porsche? Maybe Jensen was snubbed by DS Penske and over-ruled via that avenue?
Jensen has close ties to former DS Penske and Maserati MSG senior team member James Rossiter and as thus will have been recommended to DS Penske surely. They have gone for Daniil Kvyat according to The Race, which will be confirmed shortly.
But a reasoned mind might ask why Jensen is not testing with Maserati or DS Penske themselves? The driver market moves in mysterious ways sometimes
Jensen is a very accomplished driver. In fact, he was the standout Peugeot driver over the last two seasons and his stock is incredibly high in endurance racing, so his future will likely include getting hoovered up by a manufacturer should Peugeot’s most recent sportscar journey not go beyond 2025.
But Formula E, could that be a future possibility for Jensen in his early thirties? It worked reasonably for the likes of Rene Rast and Andre Lotterer, so why not? He’s got a lot of the key attributes already.
Publicly Jensen’s outing will be viewed as a curio. But there could be much more to it than meets the eye at first viewing.
