• 07 January 2020
  • News

Challenging Race Weekend For Mahindra Racing At Season Opener In Riyadh

• Double Super Pole and points finish for Jérôme D’Ambrosio
• Jérôme D’Ambrosio unable to start race two due to technical fault on his car
• Pascal Wehrlein sustains front wing damage in racing incident in race two

23 NOVEMBER 2019, RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – Season Six of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship got underway this weekend with a double-header for the 2019/20 season opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For the second season running, Mahindra Racing’s driver line up will consist of Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Pascal Wehrlein.

Friday saw Jérôme score a Super Pole appearance in the opening race of the season, securing a third row start from sixth on the grid for the afternoon’s race, whilst Pascal lined up in thirteenth place. It was a race of mixed fortunes with both drivers making up places, but also dropping down through the field. The checkered flag eventually fell with Jérôme in P9, collecting two championship points, and Pascal finishing just out of the points in P11.

Saturday saw both drivers head out in group two for qualifying. Jérôme headed into Super Pole for the second race in a row and posted the fifth quickest time, but was later promoted to fourth on the grid after Mitch Evans received a penalty. Pascal had another challenging qualifying session and posted the fourteenth quickest time, but with Jean-Eric Vergne’s penalty he lined up thirteenth for race two.

Unfortunately, Jérôme’s race was over before it began as a technical issue meant he was unable to start the race. Pascal had a strong start to the race and was up to P9 by lap 32 +1 lap, however an incident on track a few laps later left him with damage and an unplanned front wing change. Pascal was classified P15.

The second round of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship will take place on 18 January 2020 in Santiago, Chile.

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“This weekend has been my best qualifying result with Mahindra Racing – two Super Poles are a fantastic result and these are the positives I will be taking away with me from the weekend. We clearly still have some work to do when it comes to race pace, and not being able to start today was a huge disappointment, but we now focus on Santiago.”

Jérôme D'Ambrosio
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“It’s been a challenging start to the season. I didn’t have the qualifying I had hoped for but we were looking good for a strong points finish on Saturday until I sustained damage in a racing incident and was forced to pit for a new front wing. We will now regroup as a team and look forward to a stronger weekend in Santiago.”

Pascal Wehrlein

“This was certainly not the start to the season that we had hoped for, or deserved, and we are disappointed not to have continued our run of podium finishes at the opening races. However, we can take some positives; with a strong performance in qualifying securing two Super Poles. We have a two-month gap until the next race so we will be working hard to improve our overall package and hope to see our qualifying pace translate into a strong race pace in Santiago.”

Dilbagh Gill

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