Theo Pourchaire has the racing intelligence and acumen to be a hit in Formula E, according to one of the men instrumental in signing him up.
Pourchaire has been announced today as the first ever Opel driver in Formula E, where he is set to partner the soon to be announced Mitch Evans in the Opel GSE Formula E squad.
Joerg Schrott, who has spent the last 18 months putting together plans and the team to launch Opel in to its first ever all-electric world championship, has told Formula E Notebook that the French ace ticks many boxes in order to be competitive in Formula E, beginning from this December when he will kick off the Gen4 era at the Jeddah EPrixs.
“You know what we realized so far is that he has he has a strong tyre and energy style management mindset,” said Schrott
“This is what we what we realised and also that he has a low error rate in high pressure situations, and we believe that this has also relevance to Formula E. We know him also from the simulator regarding his precision, patience and racing IQ.
“We believe that even if he is that young still, that he has all those skills to be compatible with Formula E’s tactical racing format from the very beginning. This is what we really believe,” concluded Schrott.
Pourchaire’s pedigree in junior single-seaters and even his part season of Indycar at McLaren in 2024, will be added armour for the 22 year-old who will get his first full season of single-seater racing since he won the 2023 FIA F2 title with ART Grand Prix.
Pourchaire has been testing Formula E cars since early 2022 when he was an instrumental part of the Gen3 development programme. He has so far had several test days with the Stellantis Gen4 programme as it reaches an advanced stage of its performance running across Europe this summer.
Schrott believes that simulator understanding and preparation for races with engineering staff is a key attribute for Pourchaire as he enters Formula E full-time next season.
“The fact that those guys, you know, learned from the very beginning, working hard in the simulator and learning how you prepare for the races, also in terms of race strategy, even more is crucial,” said Schrott.
“And it’s not only F2, but I would also underline this. He (Pourchaire) is so long now for actually one and a half or two years with us in Stellantis and we know about his dedicated work and also in all of the simulators, not only in WEC, also in in Formula E, and we had him already in the car, also in the Formula E Gen Four car.
“He was a rookie in Gens, etc. So, he is used to all these energy management specific skills. We think he is a very good choice,” concluded Schrott (pictured below with Opel CEO Florian Huettl and former Stellantis boss Jean-Marc Finot, at the 2025 Monaco EPrix)
