The 2023 Excessive E season was one to neglect for Andretti Altawkilat. Though tipped to be one of many collection’ front-running groups, it made simply three closing appearances all 12 months — taking a podium in two of these — and withdrew from the season finale after an enormous crash within the penultimate spherical.
Quick ahead to the 2024 marketing campaign, and quite a bit has modified. 4 rounds in, Andretti’s crew of Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings have three podium finishes, plus a Redemption Race win within the season opener in Saudi Arabia. Whereas crew principal Roger Griffiths says there are a selection of contributing components to the upturn in efficiency, he does imagine driver lineup consistency has been a key factor. Andretti is the one crew nonetheless with its Season 1 driver lineup intact, and one among simply three with the identical as final season.
“I believe the consistency of our driver lineup is paying off,” he advised RACER. “Timmy and Catie are working very well collectively.
“We’ve not a lot targeted on testing the Odyssey 21 [Extreme E race vehicle], as a result of I believe we all know that automotive properly sufficient, however we’ve got targeted extra on driver preparation, so getting them prepared for a race occasion — and also you don’t essentially must be within the Odyssey 21 to do this — and specializing in what kind of providers we’re going to be racing on.
“That’s actually been a confidence builder. It labored tremendous properly within the sand in Saudi after which we did one thing related going into Scotland. That appears to have paid off.”
Whereas Griffiths says that testing the soon-to-be changed Odyssey 21 hasn’t been a significant focus for Andretti, he factors out that the crew’s present understanding of the automotive is a robust one which has enabled them to be adaptable from one location to the subsequent.
“We actually nailed a setup on the automotive that’s sort of a base, with then a variety of working adjustments that we will make to go well with the situations underfoot,” he stated. “In Scotland we had a moist session early on, after which as extra automobiles ran, the drier it acquired and we had been capable of evolve our setup because the observe dried. Then once more in a single day, we reset when it was damp once more within the morning. We’ve simply gotten a bit smarter about that.”
Luck — or a scarcity of the dangerous selection — has additionally performed its half.
“The automotive, for us typically, has been very dependable,” Griffiths stated. “However I believe the most important factor is we stayed out of bother. We’ve not acquired caught up in incidents as a lot as others have executed.
“Should you suppose again to Saudi final 12 months, we had three rolls in three days, so that you’re by no means going to do properly from there. Chile, clearly, we had the massive crash — and I believe that was a little bit of an eye-opener for each Catie and Timmy.”
There have been loads of podium visits this 12 months for Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen, however Griffiths seems like extra seat time is vital to their taking the subsequent step. Dom Romney/Motorsport Photographs
With the crew now again to being common podium contenders, the subsequent step is to return to the winners’ ranks. Andretti hasn’t gained a spherical because the first season of Excessive E in 2021, and whereas it’s one of many in-form groups in the intervening time, Griffiths isn’t taking the crew’s present run without any consideration, admitting that bringing all the pieces collectively and successful once more is “not simple,” particularly with present leaders E.ON Subsequent Veloce Racing successful the 2 most up-to-date rounds.
A technique Griffiths believes the crew may enhance is by getting Munnings extra seat time throughout different classes. Whereas teammate Hansen is driving usually in World Rallycross, Munnings solely has the occasional E1 powerboat race to fall again on outdoors Excessive E.
“I believe we’re going to perform a little bit extra with Catie simply to verify she’s race prepared, race seasoned,” Griffiths stated. “Timmy’s simply began the rallycross championship, so he’s going to be usually competing in that. We’re taking a look at what we will do with Catie simply to get her extra race mileage.
“Most likely Catie’s largest drawback is that her background is rallying versus rallycross — so, single automotive at a time, not used to automobiles going door deal with to door deal with. Clearly, she’s realized by way of Excessive E about that, however we wish to get her on the market in entrance of extra aggressive folks. It doesn’t must be in a rallycross automotive. There’s loads of different off-road racing championships we will put her in to see what we will obtain there.
“It’s all about confidence,” he added. “If we get Catie assured, then she’s pretty much as good as Laia (Sanz of Acciona Sainz) or Cristina (Gutierrez of NEOM McLaren) or no matter.
“In order that’s the main target. I’d prefer to see us on one other step, or two steps larger up on the rostrum. However to persistently be on the rostrum three out the final 4 races and to have a win within the Redemption Race, I believe it’s a fairly robust begin — actually in comparison with earlier seasons.”
