Felipe Drugovich set for 'dream' moment as Formula E career begins

Felipe Drugovich is set to live his "dream" of racing in front of a home Brazilian crowd, something he will do today in Formula E’s São Paulo E-Prix season-opener.

After three seasons on the bench at Aston Martin as its reserve driver, Drugovich has parted ways with the F1 outfit to join Andretti in the all-electric series.

The 2022 F2 champion has flirted with Formula E before, making several rookie test appearances and two stand-in race appearances last season in Berlin — where he replaced WEC-tied Nyck de Vries at Mahindra.

However, for the final season of Formula E’s Gen3 era, the Brazilian finally decided to take the leap and become a full-time driver.

Much is expected of Drugovich, who is one of the highest-rated rookies in the championship’s history and who progressed well during Valencia pre-season testing in October.

Despite visible progress, Drugovich was not entirely satisfied, fully aware of how much learning will be required throughout his debut season.

"Yeah, I did make quite a bit of progress," Drugovich told RacingNews365. "I was not so pleased, I would say, with myself — with my performance.

"I think I still have a long way to go, based on everything from the new car, new team, everything. I think I didn’t get through the learning curve as quickly as I wished, at least.

"But I think there’s still quite a bit to learn from race to race, especially now that every single track is going to be a new track for me. So yeah, I think it’s going to be basically a standard approach of just learning every weekend.

"If we can capitalise and get good results, then obviously we will do. But the approach, I think, will be just to learn and get better every weekend."

Drugovich 'grateful' for home race opportunity

For Drugovich, his full-time debut clashes with his home race in São Paulo — something he wishes were not the case.

Much anticipation surrounds Drugovich in Brazil, who recently completed a remarkable demonstration in a Gen3 EVO car at São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport.

While Drugovich wishes he had more time to gain experience before his home race, he is incredibly “grateful” for what awaits him on Saturday afternoon.

"It’s really cool to start already at home. In a way, I wish it was not the first one so I could get to São Paulo with a bit more experience, but I’m really happy.

"I think that happy is the key word for this weekend. I think I’m just grateful for what I have.

"It’s just a pleasure to drive in front of the home crowd — something that I dreamed of before — and I’ve never been able to do it in any other category that raced here. So yeah, pretty happy."