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ABT CUPRA says goodbye to the 2023 Formula E season with another top ten result: In the last race of the year, Nico Müller drove to eighth place in the rain in London. Team-mate Robin Frijns completed the conciliatory result with 17th place. On Saturday, both drivers had been left without points after early retirements. This brings the ninth season of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to a close after 16 races at eleven weekends on four continents. After a year’s break, ABT had only returned to the paddock at the start of the current season.
“This season has demanded everything of our team, but they have overcome every challenge, no matter how great, with fantastic morale,” says ABT CEO and Team Principal Thomas Biermaier. “My thanks go to every single team member as well as our partners CUPRA, ZF und SÜDPACK, who have worked with full passion for our success. But also to all the fans and media who accompanied, supported and treated us fairly during our comeback.”
With the late decision to re-enter, the following testing backlog and the new role as a customer team, it was clear even before the season that 2023 was not going to be an easy year in Formula E. Nevertheless, ABT CUPRA has managed, with combined forces and above all a morale admired throughout the paddock, to improve continuously from weekend to weekend: consistent results, points again and again, especially in the second half of the season often ahead of the sister cars of the Mahindra team. And as a special highlight, of course, the sensation at the home race in Berlin, when Robin Frijns and Nico Müller conquered the complete first row of the grid – however, favored by the wet track conditions, which suited the two drivers particularly well.
For Robin Frijns and Nico Müller, who already formed a joint team for ABT in the DTM and understand each other blindly both on and off the track, 2023 was a rollercoaster ride. The experienced Frijns was actually supposed to lead the team, but dropped out for three race weekends with a hand injury after an accident in the season opener in Mexico. So it was Nico Müller who immediately grew into the role of leader and impressed with concentrated and precise work as well as consistently good performances.
After the season, it’s also time to say goodbye: The final weekend was Robin Frijns’ last race appearance for ABT CUPRA for the time being: the Dutchman will take on a new motorsport challenge that does not fit with his commitments for the German-Spanish team. After an open discussion, ABT and Frijns have therefore agreed to terminate the contract so that he can concentrate on his future tasks. “Robin was, is and will always remain a friend and member of the ABT family,” says Thomas Biermaier. “He played an important role in our comeback with his great experience, although it was a difficult year for him after the accident at the start of the season. Now we wish him all the best for the new challenges.”
The team will decide who will take over the cockpit alongside Nico Müller next season in the coming weeks. The next time all teams and drivers meet will be at the official tests at the end of October in Valencia, Spain.
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