Mahindra Racing complete positive rookie test in Berlin

Mumbai / Banbury, April 25, 2023: Mahindra Racing fielded Jehan Daruvala, Jordan King and Roberto Merhi at the official ABB FIA Formula E Rookie Test in Berlin. The team consistently lapped in and around the Top 10, including a notable P3 finish for Jehan in the morning session.

Utilising both Mahindra M9Electro race cars, the Banbury-based team ran Reserve Driver Jehan in Lucas Di Grassi’s #11 car, with Development Driver Jordan starting in Oliver Rowland’s #8 machine. The test event was Jehan Daruvala’s first outing in a Formula E car, after joining the team at the start of this season. Jordan King began the test day straight after an intense weekend of simulator work at the Banbury factory, bringing with him an impressive knowledge of the Tempelhof Circuit. 

The pairing were both released on the green light, before completing a testing run plan that saw them complete 116 laps between them before lunch. Thanks to his experience, Jordan remained around the Top 10 for the majority of the session, whilst Jehan climbed up the timesheet as his confidence grew. Ultimately, the Indian racer ended the morning in P3, following a highly impressive final lap of 1:05.922.

As the start of the afternoon session neared, there began to be spots of rain in the air. Whilst it continued for a short while, the rainfall was light enough to barely affect the track running and all continued as planned. As Jehan jumped back in for his second session, Spanish driver Roberto Merhi stepped up for his first experience of Formula E. Despite a red flag disruption just over an hour into the session, he was able to set some solid lap times as he adapted to the car. 

At the other side of the garage, Jehan continued with his testing run plan, stopping for a change of tyres or a quick debrief every eight or so laps. Meanwhile, Jordan King continued to watch and feedback from the engineer’s room, joined by Oliver Rowland who extended his Berlin stay to spectate the test. At the conclusion of the second session, Jehan once again found himself inside the Top 10 in 6th, with Merhi finishing a respectable P18. 

Following his impressive debut in a Formula E car, Jehan Daruvala said: “Yesterday was a good day. I finally got behind the wheel of the Mahindra M9Electro Formula E car. I had a lot of fun, we got through all the test items we wanted to throughout of the day and I slowly chipped away at it. I got used to the car pretty quickly as well. So all in all it was a good day and I hope to get back in the car again.”

Development Driver Jordan King added: “It’s been really good. We got through everything we wanted to. Of the test programs we did, most of them we had already started on the simulator, so it was good to be able to carry on that development. It’s been another good step in the Gen3  project. Now we’ll go away and look through all the data and see what we can learn.”

Finally, Roberto Merhi commented on his first outing with the team: “To be honest I thought driving a Formula E car would be quite different, but it was easy to drive this car by the end, after I had adapted. It was a shame that the red flag cost us time, but the team helped me a lot for getting used the car. We tried a lot of things, including things to work on the race car set up. Every lap I did I felt more used to the car so I am very happy with the progress.”

Team CEO, Fred Bertrand, said: “The Rookie Test was very productive and very positive. It was good to see the three drivers immerse themselves in the team, provide good feedback and make progression in their driving throughout the day.”

The team are next on track with main drivers Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Rowland for the Monaco E-Prix, which takes place on Saturday 6th May 2023.

Mahindra Racing has a strong set of partners, including Official Powertrain Partner ZF and e-fluids partner Shell. Maurice Lacroix, the luxury Swiss watchmaker, continues as the Official Timekeeper.