As India gears up to host the inaugural Hyderabad E Prix as part of the FIA Formula E championship on Saturday, all eyes will be on the home team Mahindra Racing.
The Indian team has been part of the series since the first year but has struggled to string together decent results in the last few years. Ahead of the team’s home race, its drivers, Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Rowland predicted an exciting race on what promises to be a high-speed track.
“I think the car is pretty decent and very quick in qualifying, but we must fine-tune in areas like efficiency, regenerative capacity, software controls, and set-up in the races. I think the car has a good mechanical base, but we still need to improve a bit,” said di Grassi.
The Brazilian put his team’s chance of a podium in front of the home crowd at just 20 % but said it is not improbable and showed good pace in the free practice session finishing fifth fastest.
“At the moment, it’s hard to beat the Porsches, and they have four cars dominating the grid. We need to qualify well, and we are ready to fight for it,” he added.
This year India’s Jehan Daruvala is part of the team as the reserve driver, and the Indian plays a crucial role in the team’s preparation away from the track through the work he puts in the simulator.
Rowland was all praise for Daruvala’s work, saying, “it has been very valuable to have him (Daruvala) as well because we have the view from a driver watching the session. When we are in the car, we only see what we see. The engineers are one thing, they are on their computers, and they don’t always see what he sees.”
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