Points in Portland for Mahindra Racing Formula E Team

Mumbai / Banbury, June 24, 2023: Mahindra Racing finished in seventh place in today’s Southwire Portland E-Prix as Lucas Di Grassi brought his #11 Mahindra M9Electro home to score six points in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Lucas started the race in 13th place after a significantly better qualifying session earlier in the day. In a race that saw two safety car periods, Lucas was running as high as fourth place at one stage during the race, battling strongly with multiple cars around him on the track. After strategies and the use of attack mode played out, Lucas successfully finished inside the top-10 once again.

Roberto Merhi, joining the team in Portland once again, started the race in 17th place after quickly settling back into the team and getting to grips with the Portland International Raceway circuit. Sadly, Roberto’s race ended early on lap four after his car came to a halt on track while running in 14th place. The team is currently looking into the cause of the stoppage after Roberto had once again had a positive race weekend with the team.

Celebrating being back in the points again, Lucas Di Grassi said: “We had a good weekend in Portland. It was a very difficult, strategic race but we finished P7 and got six points. I’m very happy with the progress of the team that we were more competitive in this race. I’m looking forward to the next four races and to finish out this championship by hopefully scoring more points for Mahindra Racing.”

Disappointed to not get another full race distance under his belt, Roberto Merhi said: “I am very sad today as it was a super opportunity for me. We have done some modifications to the car compared to the previous race and I was really happy and pleased with my car, especially during the race. I made up places at the beginning of the race from where I started, and the car honestly felt fantastic. I made it up to 14th and then stopped on track. We are still analysing the issue but I was happy with my pace, and I was already saving energy well. So yes, I’m a bit sad about what happened today. Qualifying was maybe not so good as we had an issue in FP2 that limited my running but even so, I was pretty close to Lucas. I felt like I made a good step forward from Jakarta and I think that’s why it is so painful. Hopefully I can come back.”

Mahindra Racing CEO, Frederic Bertrand, said: “The race was very fun – it was full of strategy and suspense for us but we succeeded in getting into the points, which we are really happy with. Lucas did a good job and managed to get P7 during the race. Unfortunately, on the other side for Roberto it was more difficult. Sadly, he didn’t make the end of the race and we are still investigating what happened. Overall, it was a very good weekend for us as we added to our championship points tally. We are also able to understand a bit more the performance of the car and we are still building up and preparing for next season. Grabbing points for sure makes the team happy. A great job has been done all weekend by the team and I’m really happy for everyone. We are hoping to move this performance onto Rome next.”

The next race on the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship calendar is the double header event in Rome, Italy on 15-16 July.

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.