Oliver Rowland will make a return to the ABB FIA Formula E Championship for the coming 2018/19 season, replacing Formula 1-bound Alexander Albon at Nissan e.dams.
Rowland, 26, will join Season Two Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi at the e.dams squad following the departure of Alexander Albon, with the Thai driver's signing with Toro Rosso in F1 paving the way for Rowland to secure a full-time drive in the all-electric single seater series.
Finishing in third place to Charles Leclerc and Artem Markelov in the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship, Rowland spent 2018 acting as the official junior driver of Williams Racing and will return to a full-time racing programme from December 15.
Standing in as a last-minute substitution for Albon at Formula E pre-season testing at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit back in October, racing in the inaugural Ad Diriyah E-Prix will mark Rowland's first Formula E race since the 2015 Punta del Este E-Prix where he stood in for an injured Nick Heidfeld at Mahindra.
“The Formula E championship features some of the best drivers in the world, and it’s an honour to be selected by Nissan e.dams to represent them in season five,” said Rowland.
“To be able to work alongside Sebastien is also an incredible opportunity. I’m looking forward to challenging myself against the best of the best in Formula E.”
Alongside announcing Rowland as the driver of the #22 Nissan IM01 Gen2 car for Season Five, 2017 Japanese Formula 3 Champion Mitsunori Takaboshi was named as the team's official test and reserve driver while Nissan GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough will perform a simulator role.
The announcement of Rowland at Nissan e.dams confirms Formula E's Season Five driver lineup with a number of new faces joining the championship in the form of Stoffel Vandoorne, Gary Paffett, Maximilian Gunther, Felipe Massa, Alexander Sims and Pascal Wehrlein.
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