Cool it Ticktum-ites……..your man will be on the GEN4 Formula E grid!
But the defining question right now is, where?
Here, Formula E Notebook analyses his options. One thing is for sure; the high likelihood is that this time next week he and his future team will be fully wedded in union.
Strewth! Will Dan go Aussie?
Stick another foul-mouthed rant on the Barbie! Is Ticktum’s luscious mullet about to find its natural home in a team forged in the nation that made the new hipster thatch originally fashionable in the 1980s?
Translation……..Is Ticktum on his way to Fortescue Zero?
There have been talks and it is under consideration, and there may even be a cast-iron offer.
Fortescue Zero are in a race against time to get to ready for the Jarama test and it is believed to have already secured the signature of T.Barnard. The confirmation of his teammate though was completely open, with the team believed to have spoken to Joel Eriksson and Sebastien Buemi in addition to Ticktum.
Would this be an attractive move for two-time E-Prix winner? Yes. Although short-term there may be some pain as the team play catch-up.
But sportingly, financially and longer-term prospects wise, this is a very strong option if Ticktum wants to kick-on and build on his recent sporadic conversion to wins, poles and podiums.
The Unlikely home homecoming!
Ticktum has always had the capacity to get a new deal at CUPRA Kiro, but the manner in which both he and the team have drifted apart in recent months made it feel unlikely a part two would ever happen.
However, elements within the team are known to be very keen on getting a new deal with Ticktum. It might pinch a bit at the start, but a new beginning here can be found if old scars heal quickly.
In many respects it makes an awful lot of sense. It would give the team a leg-up in discovering the Porsche GEN4 car, as Ticktum is familiar with the Weissach simulator and aspects of the Porsche support system as well.
But there is a lot of swirling water still sloshing around under the CUPRA Kiro and Ticktum bridge and not all of it has passed. In fact, at the end of the season its dangerous currents felt like they were about to wash the whole structure completely
But now…….now it feels it could just be about possible, should Ticktum’s other suitors not better whatever offer may have come his way at his once home from home.
The new scatty ultra late, latecomer!
Who fancies an insane dash to Jarama, watching every minute on the clock tick by, as the impossible is attempted to be overcome and achieved?
That is the prospect facing the initially named ‘New Company Formula E Team’ as it looks to get its entry registration authenticated at the end of this week. Should it do so, it will have essentially three weeks to try and make it to Jarama, for what will be especially crucial for the two customer Porsches that will be added to the German brands desired six-car attack.
It would be seriously touch-and-go whether the cars would get in to a runnable state in that time. But more pertinently would be the shape and functionality of a team that is being devised more or less from scratch.
There is the possibility of some temporary assistance from Porsche, but even that may not be enough, as one of the most curious and bafflingly complex stories in Formula E history starts to fully crystalise.
Word is that Ticktum could be ‘hot to trot’ with the new team, and like with CUPRA Kiro, there are skill sets and attributes that would make last season’s Tokyo E-Prix winner a logical choice.
If ever a rank outsider came up on the rails and snatched a dramatic last furlong victory it is this remarkably late entrant, it could be this barely baked newbie, which as of now officially is still yet to be granted a grid slot at all.
The once favourites, now rank outsiders
Ticktum at Lola. Six weeks ago, this felt, while not inevitable, certainly like a distinct possibility. Now, it’s a faded plan.
Why? Probably just because Ticktum has offers elsewhere, nothing more than that. He was said to have got on well with the team and completed a decent amount of lappery.
But it didn’t lead to anything more solid, interest waned and now Lola faces slim pickings in it GEN4 driver line-up.
