Rene Rast to replace Daniel Abt
Two-time DTM champion Rene Rast will replace Daniel Abt at Audi’s Formula E team when the fully-electric racing series will return to action in Germany in the first half of August.
Abt lost his seat last month after he handed his place over to a gamer in a Formula E sim race. The former GP3 driver forgot to inform his rivals and the series about the trick. Although he insisted that he only wanted to create a „funny story”, Audi decided to part ways with the Kempten-born driver.
The Ingolstadt-based manufacturer has now announced that Rene Rast will be given the opportunity to drive for Audi’s Formula E team. The series’ organizers have recently revealed that the disrupted 2019/2020 Formula E championship will conclude with three double-headers at Berlin’s Tempelhof circuit.
Rast has some previous experience in Formula E as he competed in the 2016 Berlin E-Prix for the Aguri team which is now the Techeetah outfit. With Audi set to leave the DTM series at the end of this year where Rast has been competing for three years, he might continue in the electric series with the German marque next year should he deliver some promising performances.
“I’ve been following Formula E very closely for a long time and am now looking forward to this new challenge,” said the German driver.
Rast has a broad motorsport portfolio. After spending two years at Formula BMW ADAC in 2003 and 2004, the German abandoned his single-seater career.
He competed in a wide variety of series including ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup, Porsche Carrera Germany, Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, ADAC GT Masters, Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series, FIA GT Series, Blancpain Sprint Series, FIA World Endurance Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dacia Logan Cup Germany, Audi Sport TT Cup, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
He has earned a big reputation with competing in one of Formula One’s support series, the Porsche SuperCup competition. After grabbing the second place in the series in 2009, Rast secured three titles in the following three seasons.
After completing three races in DTM in 2016, Rast made his full-time debut in the German Tourenwagen Masters in the following year. He secured the title in his debut year in a convincing manner. Although Rast failed to defend his title in the following year due to technical problems, he was crown DTM champion for the second time in 2019.
