India charges ahead!

Mahindra Racing begins 2017-18 season with back-to-back victories

MAHINDRA RACING kicked off Season 4 of the Formula E electric racing series with three podiums and two victories. The Indian outfit retained their driver line-up of Nick Heidfeld and Felix Rosenqvist and the two have become a formidable pair. Season 4 began in Hong Kong with Nick and Felix both making it through to the Super Pole shootout. However, it was Jean-Eric Vergne in the Techeetah entry who got on pole, followed by Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and then Heidfeld.

Bird got the better of Vergne on lap 20 of the race and held out for an extra lap as Vergne pitted. Bird was penalised for his pitstop but was still able to get out of the pits ahead of Vergne after serving his penalty. Thereon he pulled away to win comfortably. Vergne also had Heidfeld harrying him, though he couldn’t get past. Mahindra’s Felix finished seventh.

Felix bounced back in the following race, earning Mahindra Racing their first pole of the season.

Edoardo Mortara lined up second with Sam Bird in the Virgin and Daniel Abt in the Audi, locking the second row. The race began behind the safety car after a starting lights failure and when the racing ensued, Rosenqvist locked up entering the first corner and spun. Felix dropped down to eleventh but fought back to third, before leader Mortara spun to hand the lead to Abt. Felix finished second, but was handed the win after Abt’s car didn’t pass post race scrutiny.

The series moved to Marrakesh for the third round where Felix qualified third. Passing Bird just before the mandatory pitstops, he chased down the leader Sebastien Buemi’s Renault and with just a few laps remaining, dove down the inside and cleared off to win his second e-Prix of the year.

With two wins, Felix leads the championship while Mahindra Racing becomes the first Indian team to lead an FIA-sanctioned racing series. They have a healthy lead of 17 points over Virgin Racing while Techeetah is third with 43. The series now heads to Santiago in Chile for round 4. ⌧

Below: The Mahindra cars have proved their speed and reliability by winning two of the three races and bagging a podium in the other