Dan Ticktum is poised to join the Fortescue Zero team to partner occasional nemesis, Taylor Barnard, in one of the biggest and most headline grabbing moves of the 2026 Formula E driver market season.
Ticktum has been searching for a new drive after his relationship with previous squad CUPRA Kiro blew-up spectacularly at the final event of last season in London. However, Ticktum had already gone through two disciplinary situations with the team and is believed to have been told that there was a chance he may not be retained by the team for the 2026/27 campaign.
Since that time Ticktum has tested for the Lola team and also been in discussions with both Fortescue Zero and the mysterious new Porsche customer team, provisionally known as New Company Formula E Team, which could be granted an entry on the grid at the end of this week.
New Co is known by FEN to have been keen to sign Ticktum, but Fortescue Zero appears to have tempted Ticktum with its package for the start of the GEN4 era. A Lola bid for Ticktum’s services was discounted by the driver and his manager/father, Mark, several weeks ago after a test with the British manufacturer at the end of August.
But Formula E Notebook has learned in recent days that Ticktum has now largly agreed to dedicate his future to Fortescue Zero, the team which took over the licence and the majority of assets from the now defunct DS Penske operation. An actual signing of a deal is expected to take place imminently, potentially this week.
The move will mean not only an all-British line-up for the ambitious new entity but also one of the quickest on the grid, as each has shown to be capable of scintillating one lap pace and the acquisition of results with three wins E-Prix wins between them.
Fortescue Zero is set to announce further details of its plans, its livery for GEN4, and its full driver line-up early next month.
Barnard and Ticktum: Explosions guaranteed?
Barnard and Ticktum have also had fractious times, with the pair clashing at Shanghai in 2025. This was exacerbated by some of Ticktum’s comments in the official Formula E documentary ‘Driver’ at the end of 2025.
That was when Ticktum described Barnard as that “f***ing annoying little kid” after being beaten by him in the qualifying duels in Jakarta, in June 2025.
“I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to win and that’s the way it’s always been,” replied Barnard, who then added that Ticktum’s description of him as being reckless necessitated the stance of he, Barnard, “not taking what he [Ticktum] says in interviews too seriously.
The pair appear to be chalk and cheese. Barnard, the impish and slightly reserved professional, while Ticktum…..well, he’s Dan Ticktum, a criteria of character of significant repute and erratic disposition.
But behind this, Fortescue Zero has acquired one of the very best duos on the grid. If handled correctly they have the capacity to be winners. That will ultimately depend mostly on how quickly Fortescue Zero can get up to Formula E speed and how competitive the Jaguar GEN4 car really is.
Its testing phase has not been easy, and while quick, it has had a variety of lap limiting issues on occasion. Should those been overcome, the new kids on the Formula E block, with their duo of delivery rich talents, will be well worth watching, both on and off the track.
