Mahindra Racing heads into rounds two and three of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship this weekend lying third in the championship after a fantastic start to the season in Mexico City only nine days ago. The series makes its way to Diriyah in Saudi Arabia for the first double header race weekend of the year, with the team fully focused on having both cars finishing in the points to continue their positive start to Season 9.
Lucas Di Grassi will be hoping for a repeat of his success in Mexico, where he scored his first pole position as a Mahindra driver, as well as a brilliantly fought third place finish, marking his 40th podium in Formula E history. Oliver Rowland will be looking to improve on his Mexico outing, where he finished an unrepresentative 13th after struggling with the car in qualifying.
After a successful opening round CEO, Frederic Bertrand is looking forward to the next race commenting: “Diriyah is another important race weekend for us, which we are looking forward to as a team, especially off the back of our successful race in Mexico. The event is a double header so we will have to be as strong as we were in Mexico, if not stronger, so that both of our cars are able to reach the points.”
Sitting third in the championship, Lucas Di Grassi said: “I think the main aim going into the next two rounds is to keep the momentum we had from Mexico. We have to continue improving and focus on the long term evolution of the team. In Diriyah, we need to focus on high-speed stability. It will be less energy critical than Mexico but with potentially more issues with the tyres, especially because it is a night race. The Saudi track is very difficult and has different characteristics to the Mexico City circuit so we need to be able to adapt.
Hoping for an improved outcome in Saudi Arabia Oliver Rowland said: “It was a little bit disappointing to not be as competitive as Lucas in Mexico so we will have to have a bit of a reset to understand some things and push as hard as possible to get some points for the team. We made a good start with one car, now we just need both cars up there in Saudi. Some of that lies with me as well, so I’ll be looking forward to getting out on track, where I have historically been pretty competitive. I’m sure these cars are going to be a challenge to drive there, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Round two begins at 20:00 local time on the 27th January (17:00 GMT, 22:30 IST), with round three starting at 20:00 local time on 28th January (17:00 GMT, 22:30 IST).
Mahindra Racing has a strong set of partners, including Official Powertrain Partner ZF and e-fluids partner Shell. Maurice Lacroix, the luxury Swiss watchmaker, continues as the Official Timekeeper.