When Formula E Notebook revealed that an as yet unknown outside team, known initially as NewCo Formula E Team, is planning to run two Porsche Gen4 cars from next season onward, it added an extra opaque layer regarding its driver choices.
What we do not know at this stage is if that team has preferred drivers of its own, or if it could be subservient to Porsche’s choice of talent to fill the cockpits.
There were two obvious options for its driver line-up – Ayhancan Güven and David Beckmann, but could also maybe count on a high profile and controversial driver – Dan Ticktum.
The two time E-Prix winner tested for the Lola team last month and is also know to be in contact with the freshly formed Fortescue Zero squad. At least a discussion with the NewCo Formula E team plans to run a pair of Porsche Gen4 cars is believed FEN to be highly likely via his connections to Porsche.
Wildcard Ticktum, who Porsche knows well via his use of the Weissach simulator over the last two years because of his work with the CUPRA KIRO customer Porsche team.
He is out of contract at present and FEN understands is in conversations with both Lola, with who he has already tested with, and the new-look Fortescue Zero squad about a potential drive for next season. He is believed highly unlikely to be retained by CUPRA KIRO, who are talking to several other drivers as they decide upon a partner to the already signed Pepe Marti.
He is also likely to be of interest to the second Porsche squad, especially as it is set to have a customer status via its work with the mysterious NewCo FE Team third party element to its make-up.
Beckmann and Güven have always been considered as favourites to race in an additional squad, with the latter having testied the Gen4 Porsche development car on several occasions, including publicly at Paul Ricard in April. But that was when plans for a factory effort were still the desired option.
But the reigning DTM champion faces a possible wait anyway in seeing if he is granted an e-licence to race in the all-electric World Championship. Güven needs to collate 15-points, so long as the driver has undertaken at least 100-kms in a Gen4 car. He has easily acquired this amount of running but only privately. The wording of the FIA’s criteria states an official free practice or test session.
He has six points from winning DTM last year and could get the remaining nine this year from his WEC LMGT3 campaign with the Manthey DKR Engineering team. For this he would need to be second in the points. He, along with teammates James Cottingham and Timur Boguslavskiy are presently seventh albeit just 28-points off the leader.
But he also has 10 points from winning the Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 category in 2023, so is currently believed to be on 16 points, although the 10 for his title success in ALMS will lapse at the end of the present year.
Beckmann has worked with the Porsche factory team extensively since he was replaced at CUPRA KIRO at the end of the 2025 season, a campaign in which he was comprehensively beaten by Ticktum in the same equipment.
