Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum finally managed to score the first points of his 2025/2026 Formula E season in Jeddah. The Brit had a very strong performance throughout the entire Saudi Arabian double header, dominating FP2 and running up to P4 in the first race.
However, on Friday Ticktum didn’t manage to score, ending his track time in P12, barely out of the top ten. The following day, he was a man on a mission instead. While he hadn’t advanced to the Duels stage, starting from P9, the former Red Bull Academy driver did have a rather strong start.
An impressive recovery in the cards for Cupra Kiro’s Ticktum
In fact, Ticktum was in the run for a podium position through the entire Formula E Round 5 in Jeddah after gaining two spots on the first lap. In spite of holding second place up until the final race laps, he finished off his double header with a P5, ahead of his Cupra Kiro teammate Pepe Martí.
It’s a very refreshing handful of points for the young driver, in his fifth Formula E season. Up to this point, Season 12 hadn’t smiled to him, who had suffered from several DNFs, oftentimes blameless.
However, it’s definitely not the result Ticktum was hoping for his Jeddah Formula E race, especially after such a strong beginning. He discussed his racing three days in a post race media session, admitting that he is not content with his result.
“I’m not the kind of man that celebrates the fifth place. I think from where we were, there isn’t a huge amount more we could have achieved. Look, the qualifyings, I think if you were to look at the whole pit lane with potential pace, I think it was quite clear the Porsche and the Mahindra, I would say, were the fastest.”
An unexpected night in Saudi Arabia
Disappointingly to some, the race didn’t pave out in the way Ticktum expected it to go. In fact, Porsche drivers Wehrlein and Mueller didn’t return on the podium, with the championship leader having to make do with P8. Indeed, the Brit was instead the best performing German-affiliated driver on Saturday.
“Porsche struggled today, I don’t absolutely know why, but it’s hard. I feel like I have to absolutely nail a lap to be there, which seemed to do a bit more in practise and we seemed to be quite fast. But in the quali today, my group was much harder than Group B, to be honest, the group I was in.”
“So, it was, you know, two tenths from second to ninth, and we did a bit of a different strategy with the tyres. I made a small mistake on the best lap, so it was a bit on me. And same yesterday, I didn’t quite nail quali. So it was about a tenth on the table in both qualis, which would have helped where I started in the races.”
All in all, not a bad weekend
While acknowledging the importance of some small troubles, which didn’t allow Ticktum and Cupra Kiro to unleash their complete potential, he also reckoned that his Jeddah Formula E days weren’t too shabby overall.
“So, yes, a bit on me, really. But I think myself and the team, I don’t normally quite self-critical in my performances in races and in general, but I think we all did a very good job today. I think I got a good start, overtook a couple of cars, got past a couple of cars in the saving phase while managing to also save compared to others around.”
“Attack modes were good. Maybe with the first one could have gone a bit later, but I don’t think we would have achieved much more than what we did today. So I think it’s a good job.” The Brit concluded, not entirely disappointed with his Saudi Arabian experience in 2026.
