• 10 March 2019
  • News

MAHINDRA RACING SECOND IN DRIVERS AND THIRD IN TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP DESPITE RETIREMENT IN HONG KONG

10 MARCH 2019, HONG KONG – Round five of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship took place in Hong Kong today, marking 50 races of the all-electric street racing series. After a difficult day for the team, which saw both drivers forced into early retirement, Mahindra Racing leaves the first of two Asian rounds still in a strong position in both the driver and team championships.

After a heavy downpour just before the start of qualifying, Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Pascal Wehrlein headed out on a very wet track in Group 1. In challenging conditions, Pascal and Jérôme set their qualifying laps but, with conditions slightly improving throughout the group stages, they were forced to start on the 11th row of the grid.

With an unpredictable season so far, and the weather shaking things up in Hong Kong, both drivers had everything to play for when the lights went green and both cars had a clean start. Unfortunately, GEOX Dragon’s Felipe Nasr hit the wall on the second lap in the second corner, leaving nowhere for Pascal or Jérôme to go. Unable to avoid contact, the #64 and #94 cars were forced into early retirement.

Despite a disappointing end to the Hong Kong E-Prix Mahindra Racing are placed third in the team’s championship, with 83 points, while Jérôme is second in the driver’s battle on 53 points.

The sixth round of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship takes place on Saturday 23 March in Sanya, China.

“I think it was obvious that there was an issue with Nasr’s car as there was smoke coming out of it so Dragon should have brought him into the pits, made the car safe and then sent him out. In my opinion they caused a dangerous collision and that needs looking at. It’s disappointing because we knew there would be incidents today that we could have tried to take advantage of but, unfortunately, it happened to us. We have to pick ourselves back up and focus on the next race.”

Jérôme D'Ambrosio

“It was a disappointing weekend unfortunately. We didn’t’ have the pace from the beginning and couldn’t find the solution in time. Obviously the race was really short; I couldn’t avoid the accident because the car in front of me crashed into the wall so it was an early finish for us. We have to work hard now to make sure our car is competitive in wet conditions because we know we have got the pace in the dry. So we learn from this and move on to Sanya.”

Pascal Wehrlein

“It’s unfortunate that on the celebration of 50 races for Mahindra Racing it turned into our shortest race of our Formula E history. We struggled in the morning in practice a little bit, which set us up for a challenging qualifying. We are obviously very disappointed but we are still up there in both championships so now we must take the fight to Sanya and get back on track.”

Dilbagh Gill

«
»