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Lessons, podium finishes, and what comes next for Pepe Martí

FEATURE 03 Sep 2026 3 Mins

Pepe Martí’s debut campaign in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship established the 21-year-old CUPRA KIRO driver as 'one to watch' in the paddock!

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feature josep maria marti

Pepe Martí had a rookie season he could scarcely have imagined when he joined Formula E paddock at the start of the 2025/26 season. Not only did the CUPRA KIRO driver achieve two podium finishes and end the year as the highest placed rookie, but he also made history as the first Spaniard in the championship to secure a podium.

The CUPRA KIRO driver took home 66 championship points, enough to beat fellow rookie Felipe Drugovich by just one point. However, Marti narrowly missed out on a place inside the top-10, with Round 16 (the first of the London double-header finale weekend) resulting in disappointment and a point less finish. Tokyo was also a weekend of mixed emotions, with a DNF in the second race of the weekend - the day after his teammate Dan Ticktum snatched a dramatic victory from Andretti’s Jake Dennis.

“The race (Round 16 in London) ended up with a DNF, which is what you never want," said Martí. "We got quite unlucky with the Full Course Yellow. It was thrown out for about one lap so about seven cars got a really good advantage. We weren't in that group, unfortunately. We had a good pace. I was moving forward. I would have probably finished right in front of Oliver (Rowland) in P10, so we could have scraped a point, but we weren't able to. I was not happy with myself.”

“Ideally we want to finish on a good result and on the high notes as well. Most of the team is English, it's a home race for most of them. So it would’ve also been nice for them to be able to score a good result. If I'm honest today, the main limiting factor was qualifying.”

Marti responded in the following round - the final race of the 2025/26 championship campaign - taking eighth after starting from 13th on the grid (he was classified 11th in qualifying but started 13th due to a grid penalty).

Marti maintained 13th for most of the title-deciding race before completing his two ATTACK MODE activations on Lap 23 and 31. He then battled his way into the top-10 over the final four laps to take home eighth, making it a total of 128 points for CUPRA KIRO, securing the squad its most successful campaign in Formula E to date.

“I wasn’t really happy, but I guess that goes for everyone, right? Everyone apart from the winner isn't happy,” he continued. “It's not the greatest weekend of my life, but at least we got something out of it. I managed to help with people who I needed to help during the race and also finish my own race in a good position and obviously take away some points which I'm quite grateful for in this situation than I was in five races ago.

NEWS: Pepe Martí continues with CUPRA KIRO for 2026/27 season

“I have no regrets. Obviously, there are a lot of things that I would like to improve this season and I wouldn't really call it a regret. It's stuff that I want to get better at, stuff that I need to improve and obviously stuff that as a team we need to understand and move forward.” 

Marti’s racecraft and determined approach to recovering from setbacks were the highlights of his debut campaign, as he managed to score nine points finishes from 17 races and proved many critics wrong. Now, however, the 21-year-old driver is ready to leave his rookie season behind and turn his attention to a new chapter for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship - GEN4.

“We need to regroup, and come back a bit stronger next year," he asserts. “I need some time off as a whole, since 2025 even in Formula 2, I haven't had some time off and I need to sort of really, really disconnect from the motorsport world. I just want to be alone with my family, have some time off, enjoy the time with friends, the good weather, the good food, and a lot of cycling, get back in shape. In the championship, it's very hard to maintain proper shape so we can try to get better in the winter and come back stronger in December.”

Pepe Martí will continue with CUPRA KIRO for the 2025/27 Formula E season.