Opel signs Formula E's most successful driver ever to lead its new works team
Opel is not tiptoeing into electric racing, it just hired the man who has won more of it than anyone
When a mainstream brand decides to go racing, you can usually tell how serious it is by who it hires to drive. By that measure, Opel is deadly serious. To lead its new Opel GSE Formula E Team, the German brand has signed Mitch Evans, the most successful driver in the history of the championship. This is not a marketing exercise with a hopeful rookie; it is a statement of intent.
A record-breaking signing
Evans, a 32-year-old New Zealander, arrives with a decade of Formula E behind him and 16 race wins to his name, more than any other driver in the series. He spent those years with another manufacturer, and only weeks ago went to the final round in London still in with a shot at the championship, narrowly missing the title that went to Pascal Wehrlein. Now that experience and speed go to Opel. "I felt immediately the energy and passion Opel puts into this Formula E project," Evans said. "Opel is here to win, and that is exactly what I am striving for."
The full dream team
Evans is the headline, but not the whole story. Alongside him Opel has signed Theo Pourchaire, the former Formula 2 champion, who makes his full Formula E debut, a genuinely exciting young talent rather than a makeweight. Completing the line-up as test and development driver is Sophia Florsch, one of motorsport's most recognisable names. "We have assembled our dream team," said Opel Motorsport Director and Team Principal Joerg Schrott. "Mitch was our ideal driver from the start, and this signals how seriously we approach this project."
Why a sensible Opel is going racing
This is not motorsport for its own sake. The team is badged GSE, the name of Opel's electric-performance sub-brand, and the whole project is designed to feed road cars, with hot electric versions like the Corsa GSE and Mokka GSE on the way. Formula E gives Opel a credible, all-electric stage to prove that a GSE badge means genuine performance. It builds on the moment Opel first confirmed its Formula E entry, and the team arrives for the 2026/27 season, a calendar that includes a stop at Zandvoort. The race car's design will be revealed on 12 October at the Paris Auto Show.
AutoNext Take
This is a smart, confident move, and the driver choice is what makes it convincing. Plenty of brands enter a new series and hope to learn on the job; signing the winningest driver in Formula E history says Opel wants results now, not in three seasons. Pairing him with a hungry former F2 champion and a marketable development driver shows the same clear thinking. It is exactly how a mainstream brand should announce that its performance ambitions are real.
There is something refreshing about it, too. While much of the car industry is talking about cuts and crises, here is a sensible, everyday brand spending money to go racing and win, and backing that ambition by hiring the best there is. Formula E has spent years hunting for manufacturers who take it seriously. In Opel, and in Mitch Evans, it has just found one, and the racing should be all the better for it.
