Ahead of the start of Formula E's fifth season of competition, NIO Formula E has dropped Luca Filippi from its driver lineup, leaving the Italian without a seat for the coming campaign.
Filippi, 33, joined the Formula E grid for the start of Season Four and endured a difficult and turbulent rookie campaign, scoring only one point over the course of 11 races while also getting subbed out of the team's starting lineup at the Paris E-Prix in favour for Ma Qing Hua.
Failing to live up to expectations, Filippi was unable to match the form and sheer pace of his team-mate Oliver Turvey, who racked up an impressive 46 points despite missing the final two races of the season due to a hand injury, powering the Chinese outfit to eighth in the Teams' Standings.
"Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank Luca for his commitment to the role of race driver with the NIO Formula E Team, something that he undertook with immense dedication and pride, in what proved to be the most competitive season in the championship's history," said Gerry Hughes, NIO Formula E team principal.
"Whilst it was a challenging inaugural season for Luca, he remained focused and energised and this has certainly helped the team with the initial development of the NIO 004 car over the summer months, whilst Oliver [Turvey] has continued to recover from his hand injury sustained in the penultimate race of season four in New York.
"However, with season five firmly in our sights and having bold ambitions as NIO's racing operation, we have decided to make changes to our race driver line-up and as a result we have to say goodbye and good luck to Luca."
NIO is set to unveil its Season Five challenger on October 8 at a launch event in London while a statement from the team read that "more announcements regarding the 2018/2019 driver line-up to follow in due course".
Season Five of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship is set to commence on December 15 at Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia while the all-electric single seater series will be accompanied by support racing action for the first time in its history with the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY.
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