Dan Ticktum completed an impressive campaign with NIO 333 by helping the team secure ninth place in the World Championship, just one point ahead of Mahindra Racing.
The Briton finished Season 9 crowning a year in which he gained ground as one of the benchmarks of the electric single-seater series.
Seventh and ninth in the London finale, NIO cemented its progress at the start of the GEN3 era with a finish ahead of the two Mahindra-powered teams in Mahindra Racing and ABT CUPRA.
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A Consistent Year
NIO‘s qualifying pace looked solid throughout the season. Ticktum was on par with benchmarks such as TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein and advanced to the semifinals in both Diriyah and Berlin.
Race pace was hampered by the efficiency struggles of the NIO powertrain. However, this was a minor problem, but applying that speed throughout the competition proved difficult for the team during the inaugural GEN3 campaign.
Still, the team managed to achieve seven out of a possible 16. A pair of top sixes and a string of three top 10s to complete the campaign is no mean feat, particularly given that the manufacturer is the only one without a customer for its powertrain, providing half the data that many of its rivals have on hand, affecting the pace of its ability to develop software and possible solutions to its first-generation problems.
Consistent points have long been NIO’s goal and it has made those gains this season.
“We had good wet pace in London,” Ticktum said. “If we were on a track where overtaking is easier, we could have made more progress on Sunday as well. That’s a good sign for next year and we know we’re good in the wet. I’m not surprised because as the car has been good in rotation and mechanically all year, very good.”
Ticktum signed a two-year contract when he joined NIO, but expects to be back with the team for season 10, despite the rumors of change typical of this time of year.
