Dan Ticktum spoke candidly to Motorsport Week about the current position in which he sits in his Formula E career, and opened up about mooted interest from Porsche.
The British driver came of age in many respects in Season 11, taking a maiden pole position and win after finally being afforded a chance to with the Cupra Kiro team.
Ticktum’s milestones enabled him to finally prove his worth in the all-electric championship, his car backed by the previous year’s championship-winning Porsche powertrain.
The connection to the German marque and the now-American outfit naturally took Ticktum down an avenue of rumours about vested interest from the team.
These were fuelled by Antonio Felix da Costa’s departure from the Stuttgart squad, but it opted to sign long-term favourite and Porsche factory driver Nico Mueller instead.
What Kiro has done in sensational style has been its social media team to fully utilise Ticktum’s often misunderstood but naughty personality, perhaps.
This, coupled with the improved package beneath him, saw the former Red Bull junior convey more happiness than he ever has.
When asked if this may have helped sway any potential decision in staying with Kiro, Ticktum started by praising the team around him, but revealed Porsche interest amid wariness about his character.
“Yeah, a lot of the social stuff does come from my character, and that’s great,” he told Motorsport Week in an exclusive interview.
“I think the editing team here do a fantastic job to be honest, of bringing the best out of the drivers and trying to show who we are and all the rest of it, and likewise with the championship.
“But yeah, there was obviously talk about Porsche. I think Florian is certainly a fan in terms of my pace.
“I think there’s probably still some people I would have to win over, though!”
Ticktum reveals suitability for Porsche, but says Kiro keeps him happy in Formula E
Ticktum, without scruple but with all respect amounted to Kiro, hypothesised about his suitability if he were a Porsche driver, both on and off the track.
“All I’ll say to that is I understand how big companies work and what they want, I can change a bit if required, but I don’t want to act, [but] on the other hand, I actually think I’d be incredibly good for a brand like Porsche, because I’m so enthusiastic and passionate about cars,” he said.
“If they got me doing any content about representing their brand and doing stuff with their cars, I think I’d be pretty bloody good at it actually.
“And I think their package is a bit stronger than ours and I think had I been in one of those seats this year, I would have been very confident of fighting for the championship, so it’s not to say that we won’t be here, but yeah, we’ll see going forward.”
GEN4 is perhaps the most hotly anticipated period of the series to date, and will span the next few seasons, by which time Ticktum will have reached 30.
“Obviously GEN4 is a pivotal time in my career, as I’m approaching my prime and all that,” he acknowledfged. “And that’s the time where I want to win. Obviously every driver will sit here and say racing is life and all this and all that, but it is, I do want to win, don’t get me wrong, but I sort of prioritise being happy to be honest.
“I won’t speak for Antonio but he wasn’t happy there and I think there’s a balance isn’t there between being happy for some drivers. They just want to win and that’s all they care about.
“For other drivers they just want to be happy – it’s a bit of a balance for me.”
Ticktum will be hoping for happiness from the off on Saturday, as he and Cupra Kiro will commence the 12th season in Sao Paulo.
READ MORE – Exclusive: Dan Ticktum excited by Formula E’s ‘f***ing fast’ GEN4 future
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