Mahindra Racing were pleased with their running at the first official Formula E test at Donington Park after achieving all of their targets.
The Indian team showed brilliant pace to finish second fastest on each day of the test, making them one of the standout teams so far.
They also completed 860 kilometres of running, to add to the 2,200 kilometres they racked up in private testing in July.
Despite this performance, the team aren’t getting ahead of themselves, only saying that the results were “encouraging”.
Team Principal Dilbagh Gill said, “It’s been an encouraging and important pre-season test for the team at Donington this week.”
“At this point in time I think it’s difficult to tell how meaningful these lap times are because Donington is not a representative track for the championship but we have achieved our targets.”
The test was also a chance for Mahindra’s new driver, Felix Rosenqvist, to get some more time in the car.
He too was happy with how it had went, and said he was learning to adapt to all-electric racing.
“First of all the M3Electro has been very reliable and that’s what you’re looking for in a test like this,” he said.
“The powertrain seems to be competitive so far compared to the other teams, so I think everyone has done a good job in the off-season even if it’s very early days still.”
“In the beginning, of course it feels very different not hearing the engine. But honestly, after a couple of runs in the car I’m already on it, pushing the limits and it feels great.
“It’s a lot more fun than I would ever have imagined.”
Nick Heidfeld, who is returning for his second season with the squad, was also cautious about the pace shown by the team, saying that it was difficult to know where they were compared to the others.
“It’s not always easy to judge how we are doing against the competition, because you don’t know if they are pushing flat out or trying special setups here for Donington, which is also not a representative circuit for the Formula E Championship.”
“We will have a lot tighter corners and bumps on the street circuits. We have, however, been frequently at the front of the pack this week.”
“Not leading, but it looks okay. We have to wait for the first race at least to know where we stand.”