Günther To Race For Nissan From Next Season

Calum Gill 16:11 02/09/2021

Three-time Formula E race winner Maximilian Günther will drive for the Nissan e.dams team alongside Sebastien Buemi next season. 

Guenther replaces Oliver Rowland, who will move to the Mahindra team next year. Rowland is expected to be officially confirmed as partner to Alexander Sims in the not too distant future. Günther is now set to race for his third team in Formula E after stints with Dragon in 2018-19 and the BMW Andretti squad from 2019-21. The 24-year-old won the 2020 Santiago and Berlin E-Prixs before taking victory in the first of the New York City races this summer.

However, even by that stage Andretti was unable to give Günther complete clarity or assurance that he would be part of its plans for a new-look team without BMW as an entry partner for the 2022 season. Günther then went on to have a disappointing end to the 2021 campaign with just 13 points accrued from the final five races while teammate Jake Dennis claimed 37. Dennis was ultimately retained by Andretti for 2022 after a stellar rookie season that included victories at Valencia and London, which contributed to his third position in the final standings.

Read more: Why Formula E Only Has Itself To Blame For Manufacturer Exits

Although his teammate's new deal was announced before the end of the season, Günther was carefully weighing up his options for 2022. It is understood that he started talking to Nissan e.dams bosses between the New York City and London races, but that a deal was only finalised towards the end of August.

“Maximilian brings a wealth of experience, having three Formula E race victories under his belt,” said Nissan chief Ashwani Gupta. “I am sure that he will very quickly settle in and succeed in what is one of the most talented grids of any global motorsports series.” Günther will not get a chance to test for his new team properly until the official pre-season running at Valencia at the end of November but he could take part in a filming day ahead of that where mileage is strictly limited to 50km.

“It makes me feel very proud to become part of the Nissan e.dams family,” Günther said. “The team has big ambitions in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and I’m full of motivation to contribute to the success of this project. To compete for one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world is an honor and a great new step in my career.”

The team had also been talking to Alexander Albon, Daniil Kvyat, Alex Lynn and Lucas di Grassi regarding the seat before finally deciding on Günther last month. Albon was recently announced to be returning to F1 next year with Williams, Lynn will likely concentrate on sportscar racing, while Kvyat - currently the reserve driver for Alpine in F1 - will explore a variety of programmes in F1, DTM, sportscars and Formula E.

Di Grassi is expected to complete a deal to keep him in Formula E with the Venturi squad, where he will partner last year's runner up Edoardo Mortara. After having taken part in every single Formula E race since its inception in 2014, Di Grassi has always driven for the Audi Abt Schaeffler outfit. But the team - that was led by three-time Le Mans winner Allan McNish - announced it would withdraw from Formula E at the end of the season, leaving di Grassi without a drive. However a deal has been engineered which will see him take the seat previously occupied by Norman Nato.

Andretti are understood to be looking for an American driver to partner Dennis, in an attempt gain some commercial support from the USA for its new-look operation. Some of the names that they are believed to be showing an interest in are Oliver Askew, who currently drives for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the IndyCar series, and Indy Lights title contender Kyle Kirkwood. Any announcement will not come before October at the earliest, it is understood.