12 March 2021 –

Following the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s return to real life racing in Diriyah, Formula E Accelerate held Round 4 of its sim racing event on the Saudi Arabian streets. Off the back of a few weeks’ break, Mahindra Racing’s esports drivers, Lucas Mueller and Olli Pahkala were keen to get racing again.

In a tough qualifying that unfortunately saw Mueller make contact with the wall and fail to set the time, Pahkala was able to secure a P14 grid spot. In the race Mueller moved up through the pack and was able to take advantage of an incident up ahead, reaching P18 after a few minutes. Meanwhile Pahkala sat in P13, fighting hard to reach the points places. He was able to gain a further place and eventually took the checkered flag in P12, whilst Mueller finished in P17.

Commenting on the race, Pahkala said: “Qualifying performance today wasn’t on the level I was hoping for, so we need to revise the preparation schedule. Other than that, the Diriyah track was awesome, lots of good battles and exciting racing. Hopefully we can race again in soon as it was so much fun!”

Mueller added: “Quali didn’t go to plan again. I really struggled to get that perfect lap in the one-shot quali. Race pace again was really strong – we nearly had fastest lap again and a lot of overtakes. The pace was definitely there for a top seven again, I just hope that the luck will return to us.”