Kiro Race Co.

This article is about the race team, the NIO Formula E Team. For the manufacturer see this article: NIO.

Kiro Race Co.
Team Information
Based	London, UK
Début	2014 Beijing ePrix
Founder	William Li
Key People	Steven Lu; Yu Liu
Driver(s)	Sérgio Sette Câmara (No. 3) Dan Ticktum (No. 33) Nelson Piquet Jr. Luca Filippi Tom Dillmann Ma Qing Hua Tom Dillmann
Car	NIO 333 FE 001
Sponsor(s)	Unknown
Website	NIO
Team Stats
Last Season	12th (17 pt(s))
Entries	132
Wins	2
First Win	2015 Long Beach ePrix
Points	310
Poles	2
Podiums	6
Fastest Laps	3
Titles	4th (2014/15)
Current Season
Entrant	Kiro Race Co.
Sérgio Sette Câmara		Dan Ticktum
20th (14 Pt(s))		17th (28 Pt(s))
Team Standings
9th (42 Pt(s))

The Kiro Race Co., previously known as China Racing, NextEV TCR, NextEV NIO, the NIO Formula E Team, NIO 333 Racing and the ERT Formula E Team are an entrant in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, fielding an as yet unnamed driver lineup. The Kiro previously used powertrains built by NIO (formerly NextEV), briefly switching to customer Penske powertrains in season six, and then Porsche ahead of season 11, and have competed since the inaugural 2014/15 campaign.

NIO in their former guise as China Racing organised Nelson Piquet Jr.'s title winning campaign in 2014/15, before becoming a manufacturer team for 2015/16. Unfortunately for them their subsequent seasons as a manufacturer entry would not reach the same heights, with no further wins, and only one podium in 2017/18.

2018/19 proved to be a disappointing FE campaign, with Turvey and Tom Dillmann only managing to score seven points across the campaign. That ultimately caused a lot of change during the off-season, with the NIO team sold to Lisheng Racing, while also abandoning their own powertrain development in favour of running customer powertrains from Penske.

For 2019/20 NIO hired Ma Qing Hua to partner Turvey for the season, although the team would reach its nadir by becoming the first team in FE to fail to score at all during a season. Indeed, even the mid-season capture of FE race winner Daniel Abt would not spur the team on, with NIO ultimately deciding to focus on building their own powertrains again for the following season.

The 2020/21 season saw Turvey once again lead the NIO challenge, with compatriot Tom Blomqvist drafted in to fill their second seat. That campaign saw NIO initially claim a promising return of five points finishes in the first six races, although ultimately the Chinese squad would end the campaign last in the Championship.

For 2021/22 NIO hired FE rookie Dan Ticktum to partner Oliver Turvey for the season, having already committed to the Generation 3 era of FE in 2022/23 in-spite of their poor recent record.

Ahead of the 2024/25 season the ERT Formula E Team would be bought by American investment group The Forest Road Company which would keep the team's base at Silverstone, but instead gain an American entry licence and a deal to use Generation 3 powertrains from Porsche.

Background

China Racing were originally formed in 2004, taking part in the A1 GP Series. They have, more recently, competed in FIA GT1 and organised numerous events in China, while also associating themselves with some of the biggest electronics companies in their home nation.

Formula E History

Having started the season as China Racing, NEXTEV TCR were only the second team to be announced for the championship in February 2013. China Racing combined their entry with a statement that they intend to have their own built car in the championship within three years. Jérôme d'Ambrosio tested for the team during the first four days of the 2014 Donington Test, joined on the fourth day by Juan Manuel López. Nelson Piquet Jr. and Ho-Pin Tung were later named as their two nominated drivers for the season, both attending the 2014 Beijing ePrix.

Three other drivers would be named by them for NEXTEV TCR during the 2014/15 campaign, as Ho-Pin Tung left the team after the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, having been unable to attend many of the remaining races. Piquet was the team's star driver, proving his worth at the 2015 Long Beach ePrix by taking a dominant victory, putting himself into title contention. Charles Pic raced for the team from Miami until Berlin, with Antonio Garcia taking turns in Punta del Este and Moscow.

With Piquet taking a second victory in the 2015 Moscow ePrix, NEXTEV TCR were on the verge of taking a title, although their Teams' challenge was over once e.dams-Renault took the points they needed to win with a race to spare. With Oliver Turvey joining the team for the London double header, Piquet was successful in defending his Championship lead, ultimately winning the title by a single point.

Power Problems

NEXTEV were confident ahead of their first season as a manufacturer, with Piquet offered a big-money deal to keep him at the team. The team also brought in British racer Turvey on a full season deal to partner their World Champion, while the new NextEV TCR FormulaE 001 prepared to make its public debut at the 2015 Donington Test. Unfortunately for the team, the new car proved to be a massive headache during the test, with numerous problems preventing Turvey and Piquet from completing any significant mileage.

The season opening round in Beijing would prove to be a better run for the team, with Turvey completing an excellent drive to take sixth, the car proving to be a brilliant preserver of energy. Piquet then managed to score in the 2015 Putrajaya ePrix, again through a conservative drive, before the car showed its lack of pace in Punta del Este. Turvey secured another couple of points in Buenos Aires, before the team hit a terrible run of form that saw them fail to score until the season ending double header in London. There would be some joy for the team in the finale, with Piquet setting fastest lap in the 2016 London ePrix I, before both he and Turvey scored points in the final race.

Renovating research

The third logo of the NIO FE Team.

Piquet and Turvey were retained by the team, who had started development on their 2016/17 challenger as early as permitted by the FIA. The new FormulaE 002 was put through a gruelling shakedown programme ahead of the 2016 Donington Test, with the team confident that the new car would at least complete a long run, unlike its predecessor. Their hopes were relieved when Turvey and Piquet both enjoyed a problem free test, although the car was well down the pecking order in terms of outright pace.

NIO Needs

For 2017/18 NextEV NIO changed their name to the NIO Formula E Team, with the team now registered as a British entry with operations based in London and Donington Park. Furthermore the team would lose season one Champion Piquet to Jaguar Racing, meaning they had to find someone to partner new lead driver Turvey for the season. They duly hired experienced Italian racing driver Luca Filippi to partner the Brit, while Ma Qing Hua was hired as their reserve driver.

Turvey's one lap pace with the new NextEV NIO 003 would be impressive during the 2017 Valencia Test, with the Brit setting the fastest time overall across the three days. Yet, strong one lap pace did not translate to excellent race pace, with Turvey failing to score at the opening round, as Filippi claimed his maiden points finish. Things went better for Turvey in the second race in Hong Kong, with the Brit finishing sixth as teammate Filippi retired.

A difficult couple of races would follow in Marrakech and Santiago, with neither Turvey nor Filippi scoring at all. The team would also have a less than impressive run at the 2018 Rookie Test, with Alexandre Imperatori and Harry Tincknell solidly in the bottom half of the table. Yet Turvey was not to be deterred, and duly recorded a stunning second place in the 2018 Mexico City E-Prix, fending off season two Champion Sébastien Buemi in the closing stages in a thrilling final lap fight.

Unfortunately for NIO that would be as good as it got, with Turvey only managing to finish seventh in Punta del Este as Filippi failed to score once again. Both then failed to score in Rome, before Ma replaced Filippi ahead of the Paris E-Prix, with NIO exercising their right to change drivers during the season. Unfortunately for them, Ma's would remain true to his previous FE form and duly failed to score after a start-line issue, while Turvey claimed a couple of points in ninth.

Turvey would pull out another strong result in Berlin as Filippi returned, the Brit claiming fifth after a race long battle with Jean-Éric Vergne and Buemi to stay on the podium. The Brit picked up another points score in Zürich, before a heavy accident in practice ruled him out of the season finale in New York. NIO were therefore forced to field a single pair of cars for Filippi in the penultimate race, before Ma took over Turvey's rebuilt pair for the final race of the season, although neither he nor Filippi would score.

Generation NIO: 2018/19

NIO would continue to enter Formula E into the 2018/19 season, becoming one of the nine homologated powertrain manufacturers for the new Spark SRT05e. They duly re-signed Turvey as their lead driver, while also capturing the signature of Venturi refugee Tom Dillmann, although neither driver proved particularly competitive at the 2018 Valencia Test. That subsequently translated into a rather anonymous start to the season, with neither of the NIOs threatening the points at the season opening 2018 Ad Diriyah E-Prix.

Another pointless race followed in Marrakech, although Dillmann would get involved in a controversial incident during qualifying, smashing into the back of Robin Frijns in the pitlane as they queued for scrutineering. Turvey, meanwhile, would battle his way to eighth in Santiago to claim the team's first points of the season, benefiting from a late wave of retirements as the circuit deteriorated. Another pointless race followed in Mexico City, before Turvey claimed a relatively impressive ninth in Hong Kong, once again able to move up the order as others retired.

Yet, that would be that for NIO's season, with neither Turvey nor Dillmann threatening the points again until the 2019 New York City E-Prix I. Indeed, while only suffering one retirement apiece, the two drivers struggled with race pace as a result of the NIO's less efficient design compared to the rest of the field. As ever, it was down to a series of accidents on the final lap to lift Turvey into tenth place at the penultimate race of the season, having run outside of the points for most of the afternoon.

After failing to score again in the Season Finale NIO ended the 2018/19 campaign with just seven points to their name, all scored by Turvey. They hence finished at the bottom of the Championship standings in eleventh, marking their worst season in FE and questions about their future.

Lisheng Lifeline?: 2019/20

Ahead of the 2019/20 season it was announced that NIO had been purchased by the Lisheng Racing Co. Ltd., a group that organised the Chinese Touring Car Championship based in Shanghai, resulting in a name change to the NIO 333 FE Team. This ultimately led to some major changes within the team, with NIO's own powertrain development dropped in favour of a deal to run year-old powertrains built by Penske. Turvey was immediately re-signed to lead the team, partnered by a returning Ma after Lisheng pushed to have a Chinese born driver in the team.

Blomqvist Bonus?: 2020/21

For the 2020/21 edition of FE NIO would re-sign Oliver Turvey to lead the squad, with the Brit to be partnered by compatriot Tom Blomqvist for the campaign. Their arrival was combined with a new self-built powertrain, which would go on to put in the most laps at the 2020 Valencia Test with Blomqvist and Turvey also showing solid one-lap pace.

Formula E Record

The tables below show Kiro Race Co.'s full record in the FIA Formula E Championship.

Formula E Entries

The table below given and overview of Kiro Race Co.'s entries in Formula E:

Kiro Race Co.'s overall Formula E Record
Season	Official name	No.	Drivers	DC Pos.	DC Pts.	Car	TC Pos.	TC Pts.
2014/15	China Racing NEXTEV TCR	88	Ho-Pin Tung	26th	0	Spark-Renault SRT_01E	4th	152
		88	Antonio Garcia	28th	0
		88	Charles Pic	18th	16
		88	Oliver Turvey	22nd	4
		99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	1st	144
2015/16	NEXTEV TCR	1	Nelson Piquet Jr.	15th	8	NextEV TCR FormulaE 001	9th	19
		88	Oliver Turvey	14th	11
2016/17	NextEV NIO	3	Nelson Piquet Jr.	11th	33	NextEV FormulaE 002	6th	59
		88	Oliver Turvey	12th	26
2017/18	NIO Formula E Team	68	Luca Filippi	21st	1	NextEV NIO 003	8th	47
		68*	Ma Qing Hua	23rd	0
		16	Oliver Turvey	10th	46
2018/19	NIO Formula E Team	8	Tom Dillmann	23rd	0	NIO Sport 004	11th	7
		16	Oliver Turvey	20th	7
2019/20	NIO 333 FE Team	3	Oliver Turvey	24th	0	NIO FE-005	12th	0
		33	Ma Qing Hua	28th	0
			Daniel Abt†	21st	8
2020/21	NIO 333 FE Team	3	Oliver Turvey	23rd	13	NIO 333 FE 001	12th	19
		88	Tom Blomqvist	24th	6
2021/22	NIO 333 FE Team	3	Oliver Turvey	18th	6	NIO 333 FE 001	10th	7
		33	Dan Ticktum	21st	1
2022/23	NIO 333 Racing	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	20th	14	NIO 333 ER9	9th	42
		33	Dan Ticktum	17th	28
2023/24	ERT Formula E Team	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	20th	11	ERT X24	11th	23
		33	Dan Ticktum	19th	12
2024/25	Kiro Racing Co.	3				NIO 333 FE 001	–	0
		33

• * Ma used the #16 pair of cars during the 2018 New York City E-Prix II.
• ^† Abt also competed for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler during 2019/20, and would score all of his points for them.

Career Results

Listed below are the full career results of Kiro Race Co.:

FIA Formula E Championship Record
Year	Driver	Rounds																Pos.	Pts.
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
2014/15																		4th	152
	Piquet	8th	Ret	2nd	3rd	5th	1st	3rd	4th	1st	5th	7th
	Tung	16th	11th		11th
	Garcia			11th						19th
	Pic					17th	16th	8th	15th
	Turvey										9th	9th
2015/16																		9th	19
	Piquet	15th	8th	15th	12th	13th	Ret	Ret	13th	CAN	14th	9th
	Turvey	6th	Ret	12th	9th	11th	12th	13th	12th	CAN	15th	10th
2016/17																		6th	59
	Piquet	11th	16th	5th	9th	4th	7th	13th	12th	11th	16th	13th	16th
	Turvey	8th	7th	9th	Ret	13th	11th	10th	9th	6th	14th	15th	17th
2017/18																		8th	47
	Turvey	16th	6th	Ret	14th	2nd	7th	12th	9th	5th	9th	INJ	INJ
	Filippi	10th	Ret	16th	12th	14th	13th	13th		17th	Ret	15th	Ret
	Ma								17th				13th
2018/19																		11th	7
	Turvey	13th	16th	8th	12th	9th	11th	13th	14th	Ret	18th	16th	10th	13th
	Dillmann	14th	17th	Ret	15th	12th	12th	15th	Ret	14th	19th	15th	Ret	14th
2019/20																		12th	0
	Turvey	15th	DSQ	11th	13th	21st	16th	18th	16th	22nd	19th	21st
	Ma	20th	19th	16th	Ret	23rd
	Abt						18th	16th	15th	18th	NC	20th
2020/21																		12th	19
	Turvey	10th	6th	DNS	14th	NC	8th	19th	11th	Ret	Ret	Ret	15th	14th	19th	19th
	Blomqvist	18th	18th	10th	8th	NC	17th	14th	13th	Ret	16th	21st	NC	19th	NC	10th
2021/22																		10th	7
	Turvey	19th	18th	14th	17th	7th	14th	16th	17th	12th	17th	15th	16th	15th	14th	Ret	15th
	Ticktum	18th	19th	18th	18th	10th	12th	19th	20th	18th	Ret	17th	12th	17th	Ret	Ret	Ret

Results Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Second		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Third		DNS	Did Not Start
7th	Points Finish		16th	Non-Points Finish
NC	Not Classified		CAN	Race Cancelled
INJ	Driver Injured		Italics	Fastest Lap
Bold	Pole Position		G	Group Fastest Lap

References

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