It’s now official, Robin Frijns is heading back to his old team Envision Racing! It was announced during the recent Season 9 finale in London that the experienced Formula E driver would be leaving the ABT CUPRA team for next year, but now his future in the all-electric championship is confirmed.
Envision Racing, who are now the reigning Teams’ Champions after an impressive Season 9, will welcome back the Dutch driver who raced for them between Season 5 until Season 8. The departure of Nick Cassidy to Jaguar TCS Racing presented Frijns with the perfect opportunity, and a chance to get back to a competitive team.
During his time with ABT CUPRA, Frijns managed a best result of ninth in Jakarta, but did deliver one of the stories of the season when he and former teammate Nico Mueller got both their cars on the front row for Round 8 in Berlin. Frijns achieved the Julius Baer Pole Position and three championship points, and with his Jakarta result and a tenth place in Portland finished with six points to his name and 22nd in the Drivers’ World Championship - his worst season yet.
However, his Season 9 did not start well. A broken wrist sustained at the opening round in Mexico City ruled out Frijns for several races. After undergoing a five-hour operation to repair his hand, which was fractured in several places, ‘Robin’s Return’ was confirmed for the inaugural Julius Baer Sao Paulo E-Prix.
“It was the worst start to a season I have ever had in my life,” Frijns detailed when looking back at his season with ABT CUPRA. “It's been a difficult one. Obviously nothing to do with the team itself, but me being in the hospital at the start of the season.
“Generally, I'm very happy. How the team operated, the mechanics, the engineers, Team Principals, for everybody involved, the motivation was very high, even though we didn't really have a car that was very competitive. It was definitely a pleasure to be part of such an amazing bunch of people. But nevertheless, other options came around.
“I went to the ABT CUPRA team because I had three amazing years in DTM with them, and still, it was an amazing year, but just the results were out. It's a shame. I knew the team before, nothing much has changed. When I left four or five years ago, in DTM times, there were similar people, similar engineers. I had my same Performance Engineer that I had in DTM, so it's not like I learned a lot because it was just very familiar. It was a feeling of coming home to my second family. That was definitely the case.
“But, on pure results, it has been difficult. And you learn way more of having a difficult season than having a good season. For sure. Hopefully, for next year it will help me move forward.”
Frijns, who won two races with Envision during his Formula E career, today announced his return to the team and is already letting his intentions known.
“It will be great to be joining a championship-winning team. Envision Racing have been fighting at the top pretty much every season, and I can’t wait to get started. We have a great car, and the aim is to be competitive, which I am sure we will be, and I am driving to win the championship.”
For ABT CUPRA, they have yet to confirm who Frijns’ replacement will be. However, on the other side of the garage, Mueller put in some impressive performances at the end of Season 9 to finish in the points in Berlin, both Rome races and in the final round in London.