Da Costa to join Vergne at DS Techeetah
Antonio Felix da Costa will replace Andre Lotterer at DS Techeetah to partner Jean-Eric Vergne for season 6 of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.
Da Costa has been part of Formula E since the beginning, spending the first two seasons at the Aguri team where he won the inaugural Buenos Aires E-Prix. For season 3 the Portugese driver joined Andretti after it was announced that they would have a technical partnership with BMW.
Season 5 was da Costa’s most successful yet, securing him four podiums, including BMW’s first win of the series in their very first race as a manufacturer. The move to DS Techeetah means that da Costa’s time in Formula E has come full circle as following season 2 Team Aguri was sold and renamed Techeetah.
After being a BMW works driver since 2014, driving for the German marque in DTM and WEC as well as Formula E, da Costa split from the company earlier this summer and will officially take his place with DS Techeetah on October 1st.
Da Costa will replace Andre Lotterer at the Chinese team after the German left to reunite with Porsche while da Costa’s place in the BMW i Andretti team has been given to the young German charger Maximilian Guenther.
“It’s fantastic to have Antonio with the team,” commented Mark Preston, DS Techeetah Team Principal. “He’s a good friend to all of us and we’re all looking forward to welcoming him and to see him in the gold and black DS TECHEETAH colours.”
“He will be a great, and fast, addition to the team and we’re all very excited to see what Jean-Eric and Antonio will deliver on track this coming year.”
Da Costa, who will race under the unlucky-for-some number 13, had this to say on his new challenge, “getting the opportunity to join a double championship winning team in such a highly competitive motorsport category like Formula E it’s very rare.”
“It was a very hard decision to leave my current position but it’s an opportunity I just couldn’t say no to and I’m very excited to join Jean-Éric and everyone at DS TECHEETAH.”
The reigning double Formula E Champion and da Costa’s new teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, said “I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to Antonio.”
“We’ve been friends for a long time, and we’ve been part of the same motorsport program in the past so it’s great to be able to work together again. He will be a great addition to the team.”
