That brilliant plan to slide an ex-DTM champion straight into Formula E is suddenly hitting a massive wall, as Motorsport.com reports. Ayhancan Guven, the 28-year-old Turkish driver who claimed a sensational DTM title a year ago and earned a promotion to Porsche factory driver, is currently sitting without the required FIA points to secure his Formula E driver's license. With the season opener kicking off on December 18 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the official pre-season test just a week away in Madrid, the timing couldn't be more brutal.
Here is the cold, hard math of the situation. Instead of the mandatory 15 points required across the past three years, Guven only has six to his name—earned purely from that 2025 DTM championship. He needed to finish either first or second in the LMGT3 standings in 2026 with Manthey and teammates James Cottingham and Timur Boguslavskiy, but instead ended up eighth overall. Even a fifth-place finish at the WEC season finale in Monza wasn't enough, leaving him out of the top seven places that actually hand out FIA points.
while diplomatically noting that the system, having been around for a very long time, can certainly be improved. Yet he remains hopeful:
Porsche isn't throwing in the towel just yet, though. Thomas Laudenbach, the head of Porsche motorsport, admits that strictly following the standard procedure means it simply is not enough. "We nevertheless believe that 'Can' absolutely has this level," Laudenbach insists. The manufacturer is currently working behind the scenes to convince the governing body to grant an exemption, pointing out the peculiar quirk that the DTM is not a series sanctioned directly by the FIA, but rather by the DMSB.
It creates a wild imbalance in the points system where a class win in the WEC LMGT3 standings—featuring mandatory pro-am pairings—rewards double the FIA points of a DTM title. Laudenbach calls the whole scenario "unfortunate" while diplomatically noting that the system, having been around for a very long time, can certainly be improved. Yet he remains hopeful: "The final word always rests with the FIA. But here too, I have to say: There are very reasonable people on the other side. You can talk to them."
Meanwhile, Guven has spent the year putting in the hard yards, jumping into simulator sessions and test driving the new Gen4 machine alongside his outings in the WEC, the Nurburgring-Nordschleife, and selected GT3 highlights. A quick return to the DTM looks unlikely for now, leaving his immediate future hanging entirely on whether Porsche's push for a special waiver clears the bureaucratic hurdle in time.
