Double DTM Champion Rene Rast will partner Season Three Champion Lucas di Grassi at Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler for the remaining six races of the 2019/20 Season.
19th June 2020
After being short-listed for the vacant seat alongside Di Grassi after Audi and former driver Daniel Abt split ways after Abt was caught cheating during Formula E's Home Challenge Esports event, Rast will race in the remaining races of the season.
The 33 year old German has a very impressive resume with mainly racing in closed cockpit cars apart from his first single-seater race in German Formula BMW in 2004. His second outing came when he made a one-off appearance for Team Aguri at the 2016 Berlin ePrix where he qualified in 13th but retired from the race due to a collision with Bruno Senna.
In his debut season of DTM in 2017, he drove well to clinch the title doing the same in 2019. He has also won the Porsche Supercup from 2010 to 2012 and the German Porsche Carrera Cup in 2008 and in 2012.
In the eyes of Dieter Gass, the Head of Audi Motorsport, Rast was a natural choice given his connections with the German automotive giant. Gass said: As a two-time DTM Champion and long-time Audi driver, René was naturally on the shortlist from the very beginning. In the past, he has often proved how fast he is in a new series without having to get used to it. It’s nice that there are no overlaps between DTM and Formula E so that Rene can compete in both series for us."
Rast is set to test the current version of Audi's Formula E car in early July in preparation of the final six races which will take place in Berlin over nine days to decide the champion.
This opportunity for Rast could turn into a full-time seat come the 2020/21 Season where he will be out of a drive following Audi's decision to pull out of DTM at the end of this year.
There has been no news of who will partner Jerome d'Ambrosio for the rest of the season following the split between Mahindra and Pascal Wehrlein who is set to partner Andre Lotterer at Porsche.
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