Yamamoto, Turvey join de Silvestro as Formula E debutants in London
The season-ending Formula E doubleheader on the streets of London will see three new faces on the June 27-28 weekend, as Sakon Yamamoto, Oliver Turvey and Simona de Silvestro will all make their first official FIA Formula E race starts.
Sakon Yamamoto will be racing in place of Antonio Felix da Costa at the Amlin Aguri team. Antonio Felix da Costa has a schedule conflict with the DTM series, which will keep the Buenois Aires ePrix race winner out of the Formula E series for the final two races.
According to the official FIA Formula E website, former F1 driver Yamamoto, who will team up with Salvador Duran, has experience in the Spark-Renault SRT_01E when he tested at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in the build up to the Miami ePrix as part of his current role as a TV analyst in Japan.
Meanwhile in the NEXTEV TCR garage, Oliver Turvey will race alongside points leader Nelson Piquet in the No. 88 car – a car that has already seen three drivers behind the wheel this season (Charles Pic, Ho-Pin Tung and Antonio Garcia).
Turvey, 28, is the only one of the three debutants who has not had experience behind the wheel of the Spark-Renault SRT_01E, yet he was able to test the McLaren F1 car earlier this season and has a class win to his name at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Meanwhile, Turvey’s teammate Piquet will be looking to retain his points lead over the final two races, with Audi Sport ABT’s Lucas di Grassi sitting just 17 points back and e.dams-Renault’s Sebastien Buemi just 23 points back.
Simona de Silvestro will also be making her Formula E debut in London, teaming up alongside Jean-Eric Vergne at the Andretti Formula E team, it was announced Sunday.
