Rowland confirms multi-year Nissan contract

Oliver Rowland and Nissan has confirmed to RacingNews365 that the deal he signed to return to the team for Season 10 was a multi-year contract rather than a one-year deal, meaning he will remain with the Japanese manufacturer next season.

The British driver originally departed Nissan at the conclusion of Season 7, to complete a move to Mahindra. He remained with the Indian manufacturer for 18 months, before departing them mid-season after last year’s Monaco E-Prix – Formula E is in Monaco this weekend.

Following his Mahindra departure, Rowland completed a sensational return to Nissan where he has arguably been driving better than ever before.

Rowland won the inaugural Misano E-Prix a fortnight ago and would have won the second race of the double-header, had a software issue not occurred resulting in him grinding to a halt on the final lap whilst leading.

In total, the Nissan driver has secured two pole positions and four podiums – including a win – across the seven completed rounds, making him a genuine title contender.

With him performing at an extraordinary level, Rowland will likely remain a threat for Nissan in Season 11.

When asked by RacingNews365 if he has a contract for Season 11, Rowland answered: “I think so. I mean, yeah. I don’t know what the official line is, but I’m here next season.”

Chance of retiring at Nissan

Rowland is visibly incredibly happy to be back at Nissan and his performances are proof of that. In fact, he is enjoying life back at Nissan so much, that he feels like he could retire at the side.

“As I am now, competitive, happy, so there’s no reason for me to feel like I need to be anywhere else,” Rowland said. “So if I stay happy if we stay competitive, I could see myself even potentially finishing my career here.

“Obviously, things always change, but whilst I’m happy, like I said, things are going well, there’s no need for me to look elsewhere.”

As mentioned, Rowland is a championship contender and is just nine points behind Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis, who sit joint-top of the standings.

Fighting for the title in his first season back with Nissan was not what Rowland expected in his “wildest imagination” but is a demonstration of the outfit’s phenomenal work ahead of Season 10.

“It wasn’t my target when I came here,” conceded Rowland. “I mean, we’re in kind of a rebuilding phase with the team. And we know next year, we have a good package on the way.

“So the plan was kind of this year is to build and I was hoping to get regular points and be more competitive and hopefully make some duel appearances. But to expect what we’ve achieved now wasn’t in my wildest imagination.”

Rowland signing a multi-year deal means he will enter the Gen3 Evo era of the sport with Nissan next season, with him alluding to the “good package” they are developing.

Despite hardware being under homologation, Nissan have made phenomenal progress this season and are viewed as a genuine dark horse.

‘You can’t win every week’

In Monaco last year, Nissan powertrains secured a one-two-three in qualifying. With its race pace having improved dramatically this season, Rowland recognises he has a chance at the Circuit de Monaco.

“This is Formula E, you can’t win every week,” added Rowland. “And I don’t want to put too much pressure on that. But the car was competitive here last year, hopefully we’ll have the same.

“But we have to remember that everybody’s improved over the last year, and in qualifying people are improving. So now we need to try and keep that level and push on further.

“But for sure what we’ve done in the off-season and the ideas that we had and what we’ve brought to the table is obviously bringing good performance in the races.

“So yeah, look, if qualifying goes well, I think we can be more than up there in the race. We know we still have a deficiency in terms of efficiency.

“But we’re able to fight with that at the moment due to good handling car, good preparation, and just maximising what we’ve got which is enough at the moment, but let’s see as the season goes on.”