'Confident, quick' Nissan looking to capitalise on momentum at season opener

Nissan E.dams forced its way into the reckoning as Season 6 progressed, playing catch-up after its innovative twin-motor solution was outlawed before the opening round of the campaign.

Having teamed up with the three-time title-winning e.dams squad ahead of 2018/19, the Japanese marque followed a different design path to the rest, developing a unique twin-motor powertrain that delivered searing one-lap performance.

While passed as legal and homologated by the FIA, this solution caused a stir among rival teams as Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland gained a stranglehold on qualifying in Season 5.

The duo secured six pole positions out of a possible 13 and managed 16 Super Pole appearances between them. Nissan initially struggled to convert this qualifying performance into race pace but ended the season with six podium finishes, including four on the bounce – and a maiden Nissan e.dams win – for Buemi during the run-in.

Ahead of 2019/20, then, its Gen2 plans and development work were thrown up in the air, and drivers Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland have aired their pride at the progress made by the Japanese marque last season.

Buemi made the rostrum three times towards the end of the season, and Rowland sealed a popular maiden victory in Round 10 from Tempelhof - ensuring Nissan took a hotly-contested second in the Teams' Championship. The outfit will undoubtedly be one to watch in Season 7.

"We will arrive in Diriyah with confidence," said Nissan's Global Motorsports Director Tomasso Volpe. "We took second in the Teams Championship in Season 6, and Seb (Buemi) and Oli (Rowland) showed great speed and consistency in the last rounds. We're excited to go racing again."

For Nissan, Formula E brings the excitement of top-tier zero-emission electric racing cars to a global audience and high-performance electric vehicles are a key part of its effort to accelerate the integration of electric vehicles into society.

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"Motorsport has always been the ultimate test and development environment for us," added Volpe. "Through racing in Formula E, we continuously build our EV expertise and can reflect that in road cars for customers."

This season, the team is connecting its competitiveness in Formula E to Nissan's production EVs like never before. For Season 7, the team has named car #22 after Nissan's all-electric LEAF - the all-time top selling EV that has just celebrated its 10th anniversary - and car #23 after the all-new Nissan Ariya crossover.

"We had good pace here last season to build on, but of course, we race at night for the first time in Formula E, so much is different to the daylight races," said Buemi. "I have experience of racing at night and really enjoy it, and after a stop-start season last year, it's great to be racing again."

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"The pre-season test in Valencia went well for us, and I'm feeling really comfortable with the team," added Rowland. "It was awesome to get my first Formula E win under my belt at the penultimate round in Berlin last season, so I'm feeling good about my speed going into Season 7."

"The team worked hard at the preseason test in Valencia, completing 389 laps, and our car looks strong," said Olivier Driot, Co-Team Principal of Nissan e.dams. "Seb and Oli are racing for us together for a third season, and their impressive performance at the end of last season gives our team the self-belief to come out fighting.

"It is also our first race together with our new technical partner, DuPont. We warmly welcome them to the Nissan e.dams racing family and look forward to innovating together in this cutting-edge motorsports series, and sharing podium success."