Mahindra Racing has announced a Fanboost initiative ahead of the first race of the new Formula E season in Ad Dirayah this weekend.
For Season 6, every vote received by the team’s drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Jérôme D’Ambrosio will convert into a tree planted; meaning fans can have a direct positive impact on the environment by voting for free when Fanboost for this weekend’s Dirayah E-Prix opens.
Team Principal Dilbagh Gill is proud that the Indian team continues to find new ways to raise awareness of the current environmental situation.
“It’s important that Mahindra Racing continues to show innovation in its approach to raising environmental awareness and trying to help the world we all live in,” said Gill.
“We’re proud to be the only Formula E team to achieve FIA Sustainability Accreditation and to continue to set the standard.”
The team is committed to the FIA environmental certification programme by minimising its environmental impact and working towards achieving carbon neutrality.
It also takes learnings from advanced technologies in its race car to apply it to its road cars within its Race to Road initiative, developing and promoting more sustainable transportation solutions.
As for their chances on the track, Gill is confident that Mahindra will remain competitive in season six, despite seeing Porsche and Mercedes enter the series.
“We are incredibly excited and driven to get Season 6 underway, he stated.
“We’ve been working incredibly hard in the offseason to ensure we are competitive out of the box. Diriyah is a wonderful track that we enjoyed last year, and we celebrated there with a podium. We’re looking to step back on the rostrum once again when we get the competition underway.”
Jerome D’Ambrosio enters his second season with Mahindra Racing, and the Belgian driver is looking forward to the new rule changes this season as they will have a big impact this season.
“The rule changes for season six are positive and I think the energy reduction is definitely going to have a big impact,” said the former F1 racer “The extra point for the driver topping the qualifying stage is also a positive change.
“We worked hard in pre-season testing in Valencia and we had another test before heading to Riyadh, which was important as we were able to fine-tune areas ahead of the first race. I am aiming for the podium in Saudi Arabia again and we’re preparing ourselves as much as we can, so let’s see where that brings us.”
Pascal Wehrlein also enters his second season with the team, after coming off a strong rookie campaign. The German driver was happy with what the team achieved in pre-season and is hopeful that what was learnt can be applied in Saudi Arabia.
“We had the official pre-season testing in Valencia and we were able to apply learnings from there to our final test before the first race,” said Wehrelin. “I’m looking forward to driving the track in Diriyah for the first time and I think we’re well prepared.
“It looks like a nice circuit, especially the first two sectors which are fast and have a good flow of corners. The new rule changes to season six could make a difference to the championship. It has always been pretty close in this series and I think the extra point for the driver topping qualifying stage before Superpole is good.
“Attack Mode changes will make it easier to overtake on the track, but it will definitely come down to being efficient with the reduction in energy after a full course yellow and safety car periods.”