• 25 April 2021
  • News

FIRST FORMULA E PODIUM FOR ALEX LYNN IN VALENCIA

• Alex Lynn scored his first Formula E podium as he took third for Mahindra Racing in Valencia in the M7Electro powered by its new ZF powertrain

• Lynn also recorded fastest lap in Sunday’s race and was quickest in group qualifying on Saturday

• Two further Super Pole appearances for Mahindra Racing in the double-header weekend

25 April 2021, Valencia, Spain – Alex Lynn took his maiden Formula E podium with Mahindra Racing today, finishing third in an action-packed Valencia E-Prix. The Brit started from the front row after a second consecutive Super Pole qualifying result and made a valiant comeback after being pushed back to ninth on lap 17 when Venturi’s Norman Nato pushed him into the gravel.

The weekend saw energy management be the most critical factor as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship visited a permanent race track for the first time, and today’s race showed excellent strategy from the Mahindra Racing team to secure its second podium of the season after Alexander Sims took to the Rostrum last time out in Rome.

In qualifying today, Sims was second on the timesheets after two groups had set their laps but, as times tumbled on a drying track, he ended up 11th on the grid. Lynn made it two Super Pole visits in two days and started on the front row from second. The race played out in the unique way that many had predicted; with slipstreaming coming into play as drivers worked hard for maximum efficiency. Lynn tucked behind race leader Jake Dennis and was executing the race perfectly until Nato hit him, pushing him into the gravel and knocking him down to ninth. He fought back in the remaining third of the race to take his place for the first time on the Formula E podium. Sims was unfortunately handed a drive through penalty for a technical infraction and, with the grid running in a pack for the entirety of the race and no safety car, he had no opportunity to claw positions back, and crossed the line 23rd.

Yesterday saw an extraordinary ending to a race that had seen both Mahindra Racing drivers in the battle for a podium finish. Lynn had scored the first point of the weekend by setting the quickest time in group qualifying and subsequently lined up third on the grid after Super Pole. In a wet race he stayed in the mix at the head of the field and, with Sims moving into a podium position from 11th on the grid in the latter stages of the race, it was looking to be a good finish for the team. However, after five safety car periods saw 19kWh of energy being removed from cars, the majority of the field ran out of usable energy by the chequered flag and were not classified, with the #29 and #94 amongst that number. Just nine cars were classified in the race.

Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries won Saturday’s E-Prix, with BMW’s Jake Dennis taking the spoils on Sunday. Round 7 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will take place in Monaco on Saturday 8 May.

“The team and myself have worked really hard and finally got one on the board! We can say we could have, should have won it today but, unfortunately, we got taken out of a nice position and that’s the way it goes sometimes – I could see it was getting a little bit racy and people were getting anxious and that ended by us being pushed into the gravel because someone else made a mistake. It was like a high-speed game of chess really! For now, I really want to enjoy the podium and I must say a big congratulations to Jake [Dennis] – he made today’s race work and that’s big kudos to him. I’ve been close to a podium so many times so today feels super sweet. Big thanks to the whole Mahindra Racing team!”

#94 Alex Lynn

“With the drive through penalty today, I lost time in a very inefficient way; there was no chance to catch up, we were just waiting for a safety car – that was the only card we had. What we did do was work on the car to improve balance and systems. So far this season the car has been really solid; the whole team is doing a good job and everything is moving in the right direction.”

#29 Alexander Sims

“I am thrilled for the whole team and for Alex on his first podium in the series – that’s a really special moment for him. After all the hard work it’s so well deserved. To score a podium in Rome and now here in Valencia, two very different circuits, and to have shown consistently great pace all season in our M7Electro with the new ZF powertrain gives us an enormous amount of encouragement for our campaign for the rest of the season. We’re showing great strengths in variable conditions; we have been fast in wet and dry races, so it looks like we can handle whatever Season 7 has to throw at us. Bring on Monaco.”

Dilbagh Gill

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