BMW Andretti has retained the services of Alexander Sims to partner Maximilian Gunther for the 2019/20 FIA Formula E Championship season.
After announcing Gunther early on as a replacement to the DS Techeetah-bound Antonio Felix da Costa, BMW Andretti has now confirmed Sims as his teammate, with the British racer retaining his Formula E seat for the 2019/20 season.
It looked set for Sims to get the seat but his up and down performances in his rookie season, where he finished 13th with 57 point, with just the sole podium, made it a tough choice for the German manufacturer, even though luck played a huge role as well.
With Gunther being a fresh face to come already in the team’s set-up, it chose to keep experience on board with Sims getting the nod eventually. “I learned so much in my rookie year; there were fantastic highs and some lows to overcome,” said Sims.
“I’m determined to utilise this knowledge and start where I left off, continuing to build from there. The competition is set to be tough this season with the other drivers, but I’ve got to grips with the unique challenges of Formula E and I’m ready to turn that experience into good results.”
BMW Group’s motorsport head Jens Marquardt added: “We have an exciting driver duo for our second Formula E season. Alexander Sims learned at a rapid pace in his first season, and showed that he can be up there at the front.
“He was unlucky in some of the races, but he finally celebrated his first podium at the finale in New York. I’m confident that he will be able to build on this in 2019/20.” Sims and Gunther have had private testing done in the BMW i Andretti Motorsport car and will be part of the official test at Valencia between October 15-18.
2019/20 Formula E line-up so far:
Audi: Lucas di Grassi & Daniel Abt
DS Techeetah: Jean-Eric Vergne & Antonio Felix da Costa
Porsche: Neel Jani & Andre Lotterer
GEOX Dragon: Brendon Hartley & Nico Muller
Nissan e.Dams: Sebastien Buemi & Oliver Rowland
BMW Andretti: Maximilian Gunther & Alexander Sims
Mercedes: Stoffel Vandoorne & Nyck de Vries
Jaguar Racing: Mitch Evans & James Calado
Venturi Racing: Felipe Massa & Edoardo Mortara
Mahindra Racing: Pascal Wehrlein & Jerome D’Ambrosio
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