Formula 2 race winner Zane Maloney will make his Formula E debut later this year having joined the Abt Formula E team ahead of the upcoming 2024/25 season.
The 20-year-old’s maiden race outing in the all-electric championship will come in the Sao Paulo E-Prix on 7 December, before which he will commence pre-season testing in Valencia on 4-7 November.
Maloney, who also became a Sauber Formula 1 reserve driver this year and will become the first driver from Barbados to race in Formula E, was previously Andretti’s test and reserve driver over the last two seasons.
During that time Maloney participated in several rookie test sessions, including in Berlin, Rome and Misano, and has already sampled the new Gen3 Evo machine as well as the first powertrain created by the new collaboration between Lola and Yamaha.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge, it’s a great opportunity to join Abt, Lola and Yamaha in this new journey for them,” Maloney told Motorsport.com.
“A big step in my career to be employed under such an amazing group of people.
“No expectations on where we’re going to be right now, it’s pressure off and just trying to improve every day.”
Maloney currently sits third in the F2 standings having won both the sprint and feature races at the opening Bahrain event for Rodin Motorsport, but will now miss the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi due to his new Formula E commitments.
He replaces Nico Muller at Abt after the Swiss driver moved across to Andretti, with Maloney partnering Formula E stalwart Lucas di Grassi.
“We are very much looking forward to having Zane as part of the team for Season 11, and he has already brought a breath of fresh air during our first days working together,” added Abt CEO, Thomas Biermaier.
“Giving young talent a chance and supporting them has been a strong tradition at ABT for many decades and that’s why it was clear to us that we would also follow this path in Formula E.”
This season will mark the first for the new partnership between Abt, Lola and Yamaha, with di Grassi having been left "very positively surprised" by the team’s progress so far.
Maloney admits the chance to join prestigious brands at the start of the journey was an incentive to join the project.
“I see it as an opportunity, it’s exciting of course,” he said.
“If I was 35-years-old I would probably think a bit different about that but I’m young and I’m ready to take on this challenge of developing the team with amazing engineers and Lucas, whose a lot more experienced, to learn from him as well.
“I’m looking forward to it, we don’t know where we’re going to be [in the pecking order] but I’m optimistic and I know that everyone in the team is very motivated to get to the front of the grid.
“How fast that is I don’t know, but I know that they’re doing the best job that they can to prepare themselves and me for this season.”
The announcement on Wednesday means that Maloney is currently the only driver on the grid without a Formula E start to his name.
ERT is the only team yet to confirm its driver line-up, having run Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara last season.
Formula E 2024-25 driver line-up
Abt: Lucas di Grassi, Zane Maloney
Andretti: Jake Dennis, Nico Muller
DS Penske: Maximilian Guenther, Jean-Eric Vergne
Envision: Sebastien Buemi. Robin Frijns
ERT: TBC
Jaguar: Nick Cassidy, Mitch Evans
Mahindra: Edoardo Mortara, Nyck de Vries
Maserati MSG: Jake Hughes, Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren: Sam Bird, Taylor Barnard
Nissan: Norman Nato, Oliver Rowland
Porsche: Antonio Felix da Costa, Pascal Wehrlein
