Why Audi's newest FE driver is almost a risk-free bet

Since the Volkswagen Group was embroiled in the emissions scandal, it has been on a purge of its fossil fuel-burning motorsport programmes. World Endurance, Rally, Rallycross, Touring Car Cup, IMSA GTLM and DTM attacks have been - or will soon be - mothballed as it powers to clean up a reputation that was dragged through a mire worth £25 billion in fines.

Not unrelated, the automotive titan has embarked on an electric motorsport assault. Both Audi and Porsche compete in Formula E, the VW ID.R set records up the Pikes Peak hillclimb and around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, and sub brand Cupra will enter Pure eTCR. These new outlets have afforded chances for Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani, Roman Dumas and Mattias Ekstrom most notably to be rehomed within the various brands.

Two-time DTM champion Rene Rast is now the latest driver to feel the benefit of that commendable loyalty. The 33-year-old has been signed by Audi for the remainder of the 2019-20 FE season, with the paddock set to reconvene at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport in a little under two months' time for a packed six-race, nine-day schedule.

Audi, first through ABT Schaeffler, has been an FE ever-present since the inaugural Beijing event back in 2014. During that time it has fielded just two drivers in the races: Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt. As it stands, Sam Bird is the only other person to start all 63 FE races - following a car failure for Jerome D'Ambrosio on the grid for race two in Saudi Arabia this season.

But when the first Tempelhof round gets underway on 5 August, Abt will no longer be part of the dwindling 100% club. During the FE Race at Home Challenge Esports competition, created to fill the coronavirus-enforced motorsport hiatus, he was found to have had a sim racer take his place. For that the two-time E-Prix victor was ultimately suspended by Audi, and in an apology video the driver confirmed he and the marque had parted ways for good.

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From that moment, Rast was favourite to fill the vacancy. After telling reporters at the Nurburgring DTM test last week that he would test the FE car at the Lausitzring in July, Rast expressed his interest in taking the seat, subject to the revised FE calendar not conflicting with his DTM commitments.

He said: "If the DTM and Formula E calendars are clashing, I cannot do Formula E because DTM is my priority right now. It all depends on the calendar. But I would definitely be interested in racing in Formula E.

"It's one of the best championships we have out there, and with Audi leaving the DTM it's the only option I can do with Audi, basically, as a factory programme."

In just 58 starts in the DTM he has amassed 17 wins, led 52% of the races, snared 13 poles and could seal a third drivers' title for Audi before it departs the series at the end of 2020. A first championship came in his 2017 rookie season in the DTM, which arrived against the backdrop of Audi galvanising its support around lead driver Ekstrom.

"If he was younger, he would be in Formula 1 - he sticks out. The way he works, the way he controls the game in the race, the strong mentality" Gerhard Berger

Rast was better still the following year. For the first half of the season, the RS5 was the worst package on the grid, but he put together an astonishing run of six consecutive wins to round out the season and narrowly missed out on the spoils to Gary Paffett by four points.

He was even more emphatic in 2019, dominating the title race with seven victories to the four of BMW rival Marco Wittmann. Little wonder that DTM boss Gerhard Berger described Rast as "the only guy that is really outstanding [in the DTM]. If today you have three, four, or seven [different winners per season] it's fantastic and it's how racing should be - but it's just bloody Rast [winning]!"

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"If he was younger, he would be in Formula 1 - he sticks out. The way he works, the way he controls the game in the race, the strong mentality. It's rare he makes mistakes. He's a strong package and if he didn't have the age, he has Formula 1 qualities."

That success and praise is well-earned. The adage goes that certain drivers are 'unbeatable on their day', so the trick is to make those days come around as frequently as possible. Rast does this through his fierce intelligence, which comes from outstanding diligence. Instances of him working into the small hours to analyse traces to identify even incremental gains are not uncommon.

Audi Motorsport head Dieter Gass recalled to Autosport the moments after Rast completed his first Le Mans 24 Hours test aboard the R18 e-tron in 2015: "He came to the garage and he was looking around. Rene said, 'OK, and where is the laptop where I can do the data analysis?'

"I've not seen any driver asking this question before. The point where he potentially makes the difference is that he's looking at that data, analysing it, and he manages to extract it for himself and put it on the track."

It's that kind of aptitude and application which will give Rast the best chance of passing muster in FE. This is a series that requires drivers to manage energy and calculate when is right to fight for position, when is best to back off and conserve power, and when is best to activate attack mode. It's an arena that exaggerates the need for drivers to possess more than raw speed to be successful.

For those watching on, however, expectations will be need to be checked as to how Rast fares in FE. Audi, which claimed the 2017-18 constructors' championship and finished runner up the season after, finds itself passing through a low ebb. Di Grassi currently sits a respectable fifth in the points, but he and the team are on course for their first winless season.

In those conditions, and up against the experience of Di Grassi, for Rast the goal will be comparatively modest: score points and boost Audi above its current sixth spot in the standings.

Even that comes with a health warning. As diverse as Rast's career has been to date - three Porsche Supercup crowns, a 2005 VW Polo Cup title, extensive GT3 campaigns and a recent cameo in the Audi TT Cup - he lacks relevant single-seater experience. His last full season in an open-wheeler dates back to a 2004 run in German Formula BMW, where he scored just one points finish.

That will barely factor 16 years on, and he has undertaken FE mileage in the simulator, but he will nevertheless have to reacclimatise to different sensations and reference points.

Rast did, however, make a formula racing cameo back in 2016. Incidentally it came in FE, when a deal with Adam Carroll to stand in for DTM-tied Antonio Felix da Costa at Team Aguri fell through.

Rast was drafted in for a one-off around the streets of Berlin and he admitted difficulties even gaining an e-licence owing to his lack of single-seater experience. He qualified a respectable 13th, eclipsing team-mate Ma Quinghua by one place and 0.5s. But he was forced to retire from the race on lap 42 of 48 after he was tagged by Bruno Senna on the opening lap and had to change cars early.

Again, this will have limited impact on Rast's more serious return to the series. At that point in his career he was yet to achieve his success in the DTM and he has now another four years of pouring over data to round off any rough edges. Only once Rast completes his first test in the current Audi FE06 e-tron will he and his team have a better gauge of his prospects.

And while Rast has been the posterchild for Audi's recent motorsport success, the marque was limited with who it could realistically draft in at relatively short notice. Fellow DTM drivers Robin Frijns and Nico Muller are already signed to FE teams Envision Virgin Racing and Dragon respectively. Plucking either from their current deals for what is, for now at least, a six-race deal would cause unnecessary upset and hassle.

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Loic Duval showed flashes of pace and earned two podiums across three seasons at Dragon in FE, but at 38 he is five years older than Rast. If Audi uses the six races at Tempelhof to evaluate a driver to sign for the 2020-21 season and beyond, Duval doesn't present much of a long-term prospect. The same goes for 2004 Formula 3 Euroseries champion Jamie Green, also a 38-year-old, and Mike Rockenfeller, 36.

Rast is at the height of his powers and has everything at his disposal to hit the ground running in FE

There were options for Audi outside of the DTM, with Kelvin van der Linde the most notable. The 23-year-old South African was signed by the marque as a factory GT driver in 2015 and he has excelled at the wheel of the R8 LMS in Blancpain GT and ADAC GT Masters. He was also there to replace Abt for the final rounds of the Race at Home Challenge, and he set the ninth-fastest lap in the recent FE Marrakech rookie test for the team alongside Mattia Drudi, 21. Arguably - unlike their Audi colleagues - both have youth on their side and can afford to wait a little longer for an FE berth and still have years to forge success.

Rast, however, doesn't have time to waste. He's at the height of his powers and has everything at his disposal to hit the ground running in FE. He looks set to be without a headline drive at the end of this DTM season, and is no longer at the mercy of calendar clashes.

Given his prowess and his dedication to the data, he is not only the obvious choice for Audi to see out the FE campaign, he's also the best choice - irrespective of the Volkswagen Group's tendency to be loyal to its own.

If he impresses in these six races, there's a full-time drive up for grabs. If he doesn't, there's a third and final DTM title to focus on instead.

Risks are an intrinsic part of motorsport, but for Audi and for Rast, their FE tie-up is about as calculated as it comes.