The Nissan Formula E Team have “wholeheartedly” thanked Norman Nato for all that he did for the Japanese side in season nine, following his departure from the team.
Whilst it was already known ahead of the conclusion of the 2022/23 season that Nissan weren’t going to retain Nato, it was officially confirmed on Wednesday that Oliver Rowland had been signed for season 10 to take the Frenchman’s place.
Rowland has returned to Nissan for the 2023/24 season following his mid-season departure from Mahindra Racing, ahead of the Jakarta E-Prix. The Brit will partner Sacha Fenestraz next year, with the young French driver having been kept for a second season.
Nato is supposedly keen to remain on the Formula E grid next season, although there are very few seats available. Mahindra and ABT CUPRA are really the only two possibilities for the 31-year-old, but both are unlikely.
The Cannes-born driver only actually returned to the sport this year, having left ROKIT Venturi at the end of season seven. He spent season eight as Jaguar TCS Racing’s reserve driver, before being signed by Nissan for the start of the Gen3 era.
Whilst he was slow to really get going, Nato ended up being the team’s strongest driver. He only made five duel appearances, yet Nato started from third on the grid four times. Nato really came alive in the races though, most notably in the second half of the season.
The French driver scored 63 points, which was good enough for P10 in the Drivers’ Championship, whereas Fenestraz could only salvage 16th in his rookie season. Nato was also responsible for Nissan’s only podium in season nine, which came in the second race at the Rome E-Prix. His podium marked Nissan’s first as an official Formula E manufacturer.
Unfortunately for Nato, his strong form came too late in the season to save his seat for 2024, as Nissan had decided relatively early that he would be replaced for the second year of the Gen3 era of the all-electric series.
Nissan Team Principal Tommaso Volpe thanked Nato for “all his hard work and efforts” whilst confirming Rowland and Fenestraz for next season, with the outfit’s boss wishing Nato “all the best for the future”.
“At the same time, we also want to wholeheartedly thank Norman Nato for all his hard work and efforts throughout Season 9,” Volpe said.
“Without him and his strong performance during the final few races of the year, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve our final position in the teams’ standings. It has been a pleasure to work with Norman, and we wish him all the best for his future career.”
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