The way forward for Taylor Barnard was most actually considered one of Method E‘s greatest low season anomalies. That hypothesis is now over.
The British driver has been a revelation within the all-electric championship since his debut in Season 10, as a substitute for the injured Sam Chook on the Monaco and Berlin E-Prix weekends.
It earned him a full-time seat alongside the veteran for Season 11, and after McLaren’s underwhelming stint within the championship got here to an finish, there was a stampede for his companies.
Rejecting McLaren’s presents of retaining him by means of different sequence – per Motorsport Week‘s understanding – Barnard opted for DS Penske, a one-season union which got here to an finish upon the French producer’s withdrawal on the finish of final season.
The marketing campaign was, for essentially the most half, a disappointing one, as Barnard was steadily unable to take advantage of his burgeoning skills because the Franco-American squad didn’t ship.
However it all got here good with a maiden victory on the ultimate race, fittingly in entrance of a house crowd in London. However, regardless of the enjoyment, uncertainty was now descending, as Penske struggled to discover a match for a brand new entry.
Fortescue, the championship’s Pit Increase supplier, delivered a speedy reduction from Penske’s troubles and, with Jaguar powertrains, will enter Method E beneath the Fortescue Zero Racing title.
The query was: who would drive for the workforce?
Barnard has certainly been, in impact, retained, because the workforce has introduced he will likely be one of many two drivers to sort out what might be a troublesome first season for the Kidlington-based squad.
In a press release, Barnard stated: “I’m extremely excited to hitch Fortescue Zero Racing and be a part of constructing one thing from the bottom up.
“This can be a new workforce with an enormous quantity of ambition, and I wish to assist flip that ambition into outcomes on the observe.”
Barnard added: “Fortescue Zero has a powerful historical past of creating high-performance electrical know-how, and I’m trying ahead to working with the workforce and serving to push that know-how additional and sooner than ever earlier than.
“We all know there’s plenty of laborious work forward, however that’s precisely what makes this chance so thrilling. I can’t wait to get began.”
Fortescue’s Workforce Principal, Jim Wright, stated: “Taylor is precisely the form of driver a brand new workforce needs to construct round. He has already proven that he has the velocity, self-discipline and race-craft to compete on the entrance of Method E.
“Barnard is younger, hungry and has an enormous quantity of potential. Simply as importantly, he understands the best way to work with engineers and extract each little bit of efficiency and effectivity from the automobile.
“We’re constructing a brand new workforce with critical ambitions. Taylor is the primary piece of that image, and we’re excited to see what we will obtain collectively.”
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