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Tokyo podium evidence things are coming together for Ticktum, Cupra Kiro
After flashes of promise all season long, Dan Ticktum and Cupra Kiro finally netted their first Formula E podium in the second race of the Tokyo E-Prix on Sunday.
Kiro Race Co. began the new season with fresh investment and its third identity in as many seasons, having been NIO 33 Racing, then ERT in the first two seasons of GEN3 – with Ticktum having driven for the team throughout that whole time, as well as the final year of GEN2 that preceded it. That rebirth, which brought with it customer Porsche powertrains and significant sponsorship from Spanish carmaker Cupra, is now starting to bear fruit.
“It's been a pretty depressing few years, I have to say, in Formula E,” said Ticktum. “[In the] last few races we've really managed to get things in the window far more consistently, which has given me a lot more confidence and we're getting there.”
Third place may have been a landmark result for Ticktum, but it could have very well been more, with him being on course for a maiden pole position before a crash in the final sector on his final qualifying lap. He then lead the race for a period and still kept pace with eventual winner Oliver Rowland and second place finisher Pascal Wehrlein for the rest.
"I'm just going to try to enjoy the moment and not be too despondent that I didn't finish higher,” he said. “I'm just really happy for the team. It hasn't just been horrible for me, it's been horrible for all of them.
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“We've still got a lot of the people who were there when I first joined, and I'm just really happy to reward them with something like this. To be the guy to do that for them is great. “Hopefully [we’ll get] a few more of these. We'll see.”
Ticktum has something of a villain reputation in Formula E, but when asked if the podium could finally help him shed that label, the Brit dismissed the thought, embracing it and insisting he didn’t care what outsiders thought of him.
“I kind of like it,” he said. “Keep hating me, if you want. I literally don't care.
“I'm happy. I feel like this year, the team and the championship, the CEO, Jeff [Dodds], and a few other people [are] sort of supporting my character a bit more, and I'm really just enjoying it a lot more.
“Not only [are] the results coming, but the team understands me as a character. And yes, I have my rough edges here and there, but you know, I'm 25 and to be honest, I'm just going to be me. I'm happy being me, and if that isn't employable for other people, then so be it.
“I'm just going to keep chipping away like I am. There are things I need to improve, don't get me wrong, and I will work on those, but overall [I’m] happy.”
Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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