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feature season 12

HANKOOK DEBRIEF: Five things we learned in Madrid

FEATURE 22 Mar 2026 4 Mins

Championship Journalist Katy Fairman picks her top five talking points from the inaugural 2026 CUPRA Raval Madrid E-Prix.

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feature season 12

Feature by Katy Fairman

Madrid became the 40th different circuit to host an FIA Formula E World Championship event, and what a thrilling opening race the Circuito del Jarama delivered. From Citroën Racing’s first Julius Baer Pole Position to Antonio Felix da Costa achieving back-to-back wins in front of all his friends and family, the 2026 CUPRA Raval Madrid E-Prix was an unmissable weekend.

Fans and drivers LOVE Jarama

The Circuito del Jarama came to the rescue in Season 11 when it hosted Pre-Season testing for Formula E, following devastating flooding in the Valencia region of Spain. However, fast forward 18 months and we’re back to host the first championship race in the Spanish capital.

Jarama has a wealth of motorsport history, including hosting Formula 1 across the late sixties until the early eighties. It’s a place that Mario Andretti won at, and marked a full circle for the Andretti Formula E team who returned decades later to race at.

The 3.934km circuit is one of the longest on the calendar, and is a rollercoaster of a ride for the drivers. It’s so unforgiving, with one small mistake having big consequences which we saw through qualifying with so many drivers ending up in the gravel.

It’s clearly a fan-favourite too, with sell out crowds packing in to see home hero Pepe Martí (CUPRA KIRO) and see Formula E’s return to Spain for the first time in five years.

Cassidy continues to collect Citroën milestones

Nick Cassidy managed to win for Citroën Racing in just their second race in the championship back in Mexico City this January. He’s also picked up a podium in their first race during the season opener in São Paulo, and now he’s ticked another box after securing the Julius Baer Pole Position in Madrid.

After banking a place in the Duels, Cassidy progressed through to the various rounds before battling Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing) in the final.

However, despite his rapid pace he wasn’t able to convert the pole into more points and finished down in 17th.

“It was an up and down day for me, but that’s Formula E,” Cassidy said on the result. “We did a great job in qualifying and the team gave me a really strong car, which was encouraging. The pace was there in the race as well, but we struggled a bit with overall efficiency, which made things more difficult as the race unfolded.

“I think we were unlucky with how the strategy played out, especially with how tight the pack was and how sensitive the energy management was today. We did pretty much everything we could with what we had, but small factors can make a big difference in this kind of race.”

Jaguar’s one-two performance

Antonio Felix da Costa became the first two-time winner this season, celebrating his victory in front of lots of Portuguese friends and family. It was an excellent result for the Season 6 Champion, who was joined on the podium by his Jaguar TCS Racing teammate Mitch Evans in second.

It is the third time that the British team have achieved his feat in Formula E, and also credit to Evans and his team for perfecting a strategy that saw him rise up the ranks from 16th on the grid to second place. With more energy at the end, there were tense moments as the two battled on-track but team orders prevented any big brave moves on the final lap and the result stayed the same.

The points haul from their success also placed Jaguar in very close proximity to Porsche in the Teams’ World Championship Standings with just four points separating the two.

Double points for CUPRA KIRO at home

The 2026 CUPRA Raval Madrid E-Prix was a huge weekend for the CUPRA KIRO gang. Not only are they home to the only Spanish driver on the grid in Pepe Martí, the event was also sponsored by CUPRA themselves and Team Owner Idris Elba was in attendance to show his support.

There did come a point in the race where Martí took his ATTACK MODE activation and soared through the pack before leading several laps. As you would expect, the fans went wild and were cheering and applauding so loud you could probably have heard it in Barcelona!

Martí finished his first home race in ninth, with teammate Dan Ticktum just missing out on a podium in the final corner. Despite his best efforts to pass Evans for second into the last chicane, he misjudged it and was passed by Pascal Wehrlein in the final metres to lose his podium position.

Rookie Test showcases new talent

The annual Rookie Test is back, but this time it is being hosted in Jarama. 20 of motorsport’s best and brightest drivers are on-track across Sunday 22 March to learn and understand these GEN3 Evo machines and get a feel for electric racing.

Here is the full confirmed list of drivers for the Madrid Rookie Test:

Team	Driver	Driver
Andretti	Freddie Slater	Callum Voisin
Citroën Racing	Théo Pourchaire	Joshua Dürksen
CUPRA KIRO	Bianca Bustamante	Cian Shields
DS PENSKE	Nikita Bedrin	Daniil Kvyat
Envision Racing	Ella Lloyd	Zak O'Sullivan
Jaguar TCS Racing	Juju Noda	Bryce Aron
Lola Yamaha ABT	Hugh Barter	Richard Verschoor
Mahindra Racing	Kush Maini	Théophile Naël
Nissan	Abbi Pulling	Victor Martins
Porsche	Elia Weiss	Ayhancan Güven

The Rookie Tests have been a proven pathway to Formula E too, with the likes of Taylor Barnard (DS PENSKE), multi-race winner Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing), Max Guenther (DS PENSKE) and former champion Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing) all graduating from rookie tests into full-time seats.