Ticktum "thrilled to win" as he praises Kiro's uptick in form in 2025

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

After 60 races and four years of struggle towards the rear of the Formula E field, Dan Ticktum can finally call himself a Formula E race winner. The Briton, known largely for his animated character in the series, put in a calm and collected drive to win the Jakarta E-Prix, sparking celebrations within the Kiro garage.

Ticktum can finally call himself a race winner | Credit: Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images

The win came at a crucial juncture in Cupra Kiro's season, reinforcing the investments by owners Forrest Road to revive a team that had been floundering towards the rear of the grid for several seasons.

It was a win that brought out the emotions from team principal Alex Hui, who could finally celebrate victory, five years after taking over the reins at the 333 Nio Formula E team in 2019.

Ticktum, who started the race fifth, moved ahead of Nick Cassidy's Jaguar at the start, running fourth for most of the initial stages of the race. However, the opportunities opened up for the man from London as his competitors ahead started to slip up.

While Barnard went deep into turn 16 as he took his second attack mode, and lost several positions venturing onto the dusty part of the track, race leaders Jake Dennis and Nyck de Vries got too close for comfort. The Mahindra man, itching to take the race lead outright, chopped across Dennis' front wing, splattering debris on the main straight.

While this led to a safety car period, de Vries received a ten-second penalty, while Dennis dropped down the order once the green flag was flown, with Andretti citing technical issues for the reasons behind his undoing in the race.

Ticktum fended off Mortara's Mahindra in the victory battle | Credit: Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images

These events put Ticktum up into the race lead, just ahead of de Vries' teammate Edoardo Mortara, who harried the Kiro racer all the way to the line. Ticktum eventually took victory in Jakarta by a slender margin of 0.371 seconds, sparking off widespread celebrations in the Cupra Kiro garage.

An animated character himself on and off the track, Ticktum expressed his joy on becoming a race winner post-race, and how he knew he had what it took to finally see the light of day in the championship.

“I think that is the most joyous part of all this — obviously I’m thrilled that I’ve won a race," Ticktum expressed.

"I've been in Formula E nearly four years now, but the whole time I’ve known this is what I can do. Now I’ve got a good car and I’m doing it.

"I’m very, very happy, I think a lot of people forgot I used to be quite handy on the F1 ladder back in the day, and now I’m just going to start proving it again," he continued, expressing that the hunger to win never died down.

It was only seven months ago when Kiro became the final team to confirm their line-up, slotting in David Beckmann alongside Ticktum for 2025. With plenty of restructuring behind the scenes, an ownership and driver line-up change, and a deal with Porsche to source powertrains, it would take a while to get up to speed for the new team on the grid.

Even still, Ticktum found himself in the points, banking three top 10 finishes until the Miami E-Prix weekend in April. It's been a remarkable uptick in form for the team ever since.

"The guys are pretty remarkable, in terms of the rate of improvement we’ve had over the last six to seven months this season. We started in quite a not great place and I was a little bit underwhelmed at the beginning of the season and we chipped away," Ticktum expressed, highlighting the initial struggles for the team in the first few weekends.

Ticktum celebrated a maiden podium in Tokyo | Credit: Simon Galloway/LAT Images

Ticktum, who had scored only 12 points until Miami, hit top gear once Cupra Kiro topped both free practice sessions in Monaco. A maiden podium followed in Tokyo, with Ticktum scoring yet another top four finish in Shanghai, before bagging the team's maiden win in Jakarta.

"Since Miami, it’s been quite a steep upwards trajectory, so I’m very, very proud of them. I’ve been with them (Cupra Kiro) since day one here, and to deliver that (a race victory) is very special for them, and a good feeling for me.”

Having taken as many as 68 points across the past four race weekends, Ticktum has now soared into the top five of the drivers standings in 2025. He sits only 14 points off Taylor Barnard in fourth, and only six ahead of DS Penske's Jean-Éric Vergne.

Meanwhile, Cupra Kiro climb up to ninth in the standings, moving past Envision Racing on the ladder. The American team sits only nine points off Maserati in eighth, with a strong chance of usurping them as the season heads into its final weekends of 2025.

While a title challenge may be out of the question for Ticktum in 2025, victory will certainly put himself as well as Cupra Kiro in good stead, and ending the season on a high would provide much-needed momentum for them going into 2026.

Formula E heads into Berlin on July 12th and 13th for the Berlin E-Prix double header. With the seasons coming towards a close, expect battles on track to heat up, as championship battles could potentially get settled.