Maserati has today announced that it will join the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship from Season 9 with the debut of the Gen3, Formula E’s lightest, fastest and most powerful racing car yet.
The arrival of the legendary Maserati Trident on the grid will mark its return to single seater competition for the first time in more than 60 years. It will make history as the first Italian brand to compete in Formula E.
The Gen3 era brings the iconic @Maserati_HQ to electric street racing, coming Season 9 2022/2023. #ChangeAccelerated ⚡️
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) January 11, 2022
A storied past
Motorsport and competition is in Maserati’s DNA. The company was born on the track with the Maserati brothers jumping in-car for their racing debut 96 years ago.
The iconic Maserati Trident badge made its first appearance in the 1926 Targa Florio – an endurance race in the Sicilian mountains – and won its class, with Alfieri Maserati behind the wheel.
One of the sport’s all-time greats, Juan Manuel Fangio, sealed the Formula 1 World Championship for Maserati in 1957, and the last time one of its single seaters was seen on track was in the hands of Maria Teresa de Filippis – the first woman to qualify for an F1 Grand Prix – in 1958.
The brand’s MC12 raced in sports cars in the 2000s, taking 14 titles in FIA GT between 2004 and 2010.
Maserati’s electric future
Maserati CEO Davide Grasso feels the brand’s racing heritage aligns perfectly with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, and even given Maserati’s history, the marque is eager to put down new roots and signal its intent at the beginning of a new era for the Trident with competition in the world’s first electric motor racing series.
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The aim is to take advantage of the pressure cooker of world-class motorsport to drive the performance, innovation and prestige of its “Folgore” fully-electric vehicle line forward, as learnings on track feed back into its road car effort.
“We are very proud to be back where we belong as protagonists in the world of racing. We are powered by passion and innovative by nature. We have a long history of world-class excellence in competition and we are ready to drive performance in the future,” said Grasso.
"Beyond this piece of history, Maserati Formula E will be our technological laboratory to accelerate the development of high-efficiency electrified powertrains and intelligent software for our road sports cars.
"Formula E is the perfect championship for this purpose and we are very proud to be the first Italian brand to join the fold."
“In the race for more performance, luxury, and innovation, Folgore – our electrified line and it is the purest expression of Maserati. That’s why we decided to go back to racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship, meeting our customers in the city centres of the world, taking the Trident forward into the future.”
READ MORE: Folgore: Electrification the Maserati way
“It is a great pleasure for STELLANTIS Motorsport to play a part in getting Maserati back in the race,” says Jean-Marc Finot, Senior VP of Stellantis Motorsport.
“Beyond this piece of history, Maserati Formula E will be our technological laboratory to accelerate the development of high-efficiency electrified powertrains and intelligent software for our road sports cars.
"Formula E is the perfect championship for this purpose and we are very proud to be the first Italian brand to join the fold.”
Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle said: “We are delighted Maserati will join the Gen3 era of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and play a defining role reimagining the future of motorsport.
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“Formula E races in the heart of the most iconic cities in the world and is followed passionately by a progressive global audience. Our millions of fans will be thrilled to see Maserati line up on the grid as one of the world’s elite electric car brands.”
“We are proud to welcome Maserati to their new home in world-class motorsport,” added Formula E Founder and Chairman Alejandro Agag. “The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the pinnacle of electric racing. It provides the perfect environment for the most dynamic and innovative high-performance car brands to showcase their technological capabilities alongside their sporting ambitions.”