Nissan has signed Zane Maloney to replace Norman Nato because it believed his recent experience in Formula E, combined with his already banked Gen4 test days, would be more beneficial than taking out-and-out rookie Victor Martins. 

The deal for Nissan to take former Lola Yamaha Abt racer Maloney was announced on Wednesday, but for a long spell it looked like Alpine World Endurance Championship racer Victor Martins was on course for it, with Martins having previously tested for Nissan on several occasions.

The Race has learned that the ultimate decision of who would partner Oliver Rowland next season came down to a straight choice between Maloney and Martins.

The last of Martins' Nissan tests was last month in Navarra where he joined test and reserve driver Sam Bird.

But it was ultimately Maloney who got the seat after team principal Tommaso Volpe is believed to have had some Nissan board level pressure to take a driver with some Formula E experience. 

Maloney has scored just three points in two seasons with the Lola squad, propping up the points table in each of his campaigns so far. But Volpe and Nissan saw past the poor results and found that the Bajan was, especially this season, just as quick as team-mate Lucas di Grassi.

"Despite the beginning of Gen4 presenting us with the opportunity to start with a rookie, which was definitely a valid option for us, we were a little bit concerned that no Formula E experience could have left us a little bit disadvantaged," Volpe told The Race.

"So, we preferred to have someone with Formula E experience. We also looked at the performance of Zane in F2, and from what the drivers tell us about the characteristics of Gen4, we thought that overall that Zane would have been the best choice for us at this time." 

The Race understands that Maloney will be in the Nissan simulator next week before getting his first taste of the Nissan Gen4 development car next month. He has previously conducted several test days with the Lola Gen4 test car, most recently at Estoril the week before the London E-Prix finale races. 

What now for Martins?

Martins' hopes of racing for Nissan next season may be over but the F2 race winner has a 'plan B' in Formula E, which is a berth at Lola Yamaha for next season.

Two seats are now available at the British manufacturer, which is continuing its Gen4 testing in Spain today with Dan Ticktum running with the team as he considers his Formula E future.

At present Martins is a free agent and is believed to be evaluating several options in sportscars and Formula E. He is likely to be given an offer to stay with the Alpine team which is expected to metamorphose into a Geely branded entity next season, as first reported by The Stint website earlier this month.

Nissan boss Volpe said that choosing between Maloney and Martins "was definitely a very difficult decision because Victor is super talented". 

"He also has equally strong results and performance in F2 like Zane," Volpe added.

"We do not know his plan for endurance next year and we also have an overlap [clash] with one race, which has hurt us in the past, so there were many other things that it looked like a little bit easier with Zane and more in his favour."

What went down with Rowland?

Running concurrently to the Maloney or Martins situation was some turbulence around Nissan's outgoing champion Rowland.

He started to become unsure if staying at the manufacturer that took him to his 2025 crown was absolutely right for him in Gen4. 

The Race revealed last week that Rowland is believed to have received attention and potentially offers from both Penske and Envision recently despite having a long-term arrangement at Nissan. 

While that fragile situation got resolved over the London E-Prix weekend, thought soon went toward doing a deal with Maloney, which Is understood to have been agreed just after the final race weekend of the season too.

A fraught build up to the London showdown was understood by The Race to have included several intense discussions between the Rowland camp and Volpe about their future together.

Rowland has a multi-year deal with Nissan, potentially for the duration of the Gen4 rules set, although it is rumoured to include several clauses within it that could have allowed the 2025 champion to move on.

Volpe was reluctant to divulge much detail on the situation but did tell The Race that "Oliver is. a champion and he does not like not being a champion, like us, so we have that in common."

"Of course, at the end of the cycle we had a moment of discussion with Oliver, where his priority was to understand what our plan was, and everything went well," added Volpe. 

"We also were not particularly happy not to have him on the top of the championship again for the second season running, but we just had a conversation about our plans for Gen4 and then everything went well. I think we are all focused on doing as well as possible for Nissan in Gen4."