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Mahindra Racing has signed 2016/17 Formula E title winner Lucas di Grassi to pair Oliver Rowland from next season.
Di Grassi replaces Alexander Sims who leaves to pursue other opportunities after four seasons in the series and two with the Indian outfit. Together, Di Grassi and Rowland will continue Mahindra Racing’s Gen3 testing programme before embarking on a new era for the series at the start of next year and working towards achieving the team’s title ambitions.
From winning the first ever Formula E race on the streets of Beijing back in 2014 to standing on the precipice of his 100th race this weekend in Seoul, di Grassi has proven a competitive force throughout all eight seasons. The Brazilian has racked up 13 race wins, a record-breaking 38 podiums and three Julius Baer Pole Positions to total an unrivalled 994 points. In 2016/17 he won the title with Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler - with ABT Sportsline set to return from Season 9 and will use Mahindra powertrains.
“Joining Mahindra represents a new challenge in my career and the timing could not be better: with the introduction of Gen3 in season nine of the FIA Formula E World Championship, everyone is starting from scratch," says di Grassi. "Having a seven-year relationship with ABT Sportsline, in which we won the world championship together, will give us a good springboard - the team will use the Mahindra Racing powered by ZF powertrain and this additional data and my close connection to the engineers will stand us in good stead.”
“The short-term target is to win races and long-term is to help Mahindra Racing to win the world championship and become an icon in electric racing worldwide. We will build an exciting and sustainable future together.”
“There’s no doubt that Lucas [Di Grassi] is one of the greatest Formula E drivers in the history of the sport – the stats and the silverware do the talking – but, for us, his appeal is much wider than that. We are the only team that has been net carbon zero since inception, earning us the title of 'The Greenest Team in Motorsport', and it is fundamental to our existence that we are driving forward technological developments in electric mobility with passion and knowledge both on- and off-track.
"We believe Lucas is perfectly positioned to do this and we are ready to get him bedded into our ground-breaking Gen3 programme within the coming weeks. Our ambition is for Mahindra Racing to become FIA Formula E World Champions and Lucas’s experience and drive will be instrumental in achieving this."