While Mahindra Racing may not have ended the 2018-19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship on a high on-track, the Indian team won the Social Media Activation award at the end of season awards ceremony at Spring Studios, Manhattan in New York City. This is as well as Mahindra Racing’s Alberto Blanco picking up the award for Modis engineer of the year, demonstrating excellence in the team spanning from engineering, marketing and communication.
Their Social Media award was in recognition of the four-part video series Formula E goes to Bollywood. The film series brought together several of the famous from the all-electric series, including all four champions: Nelson Piquet Jr, Sebastien Buemi, Lucas Di Grassi and Jean-Eric Vergne, as well as other Formula E drivers Andre Lotterer and Stoffel Vandoorne. Also, Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Team Principal Allan McNish, TV personalities such as Vernon Kay, Nicki Shields as well as lead race commentator Jack Nicholls and co-commentator and Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti also featured in their mini-series.
Mahindra Racing’s Bollywood four-part video series was designed to bring together the international motorsport world with the team’s Indian culture. It clearly illustrates that Formula E is a community and a family, which despite being fiercely competitive on-track, it demonstrates what is special and fun about the series off-track. This accolade highlights what was accomplished in this video series as their campaign gained 41.7 m views and 2 m people engaged with the videos.
The first episode entitled ‘Jerome Goes Bollywood’ saw Mahindra Team Principal Dilbagh Gil and race driver Jerome D’ Ambrosio went to Mumbai to feature in a Bollywood film and took part in a dance scene. The Mahindra Racing team then caught the bug and recreated the dance scene in the second episode ‘Mahindra Racing Goes Bollywood. ‘ Then in ‘Formula E Goes Bollywood’, the movement spreads across the Formula E family, with an all-star cast give their interpretation of Bollywood dancing. Finally, the fans got involved and submitted videos of them dancing to the Kabja strong in ‘The Fans Go Bollywood’.
Mahindra Racing Formula E Team Principal Gilbagh Gill is honoured to represent Mahindra in receiving this award and added, “I am thrilled that the two awards we won demonstrate excellence across engineering, marketing and communications.
“I am hugely proud of the whole team and the passion, innovation, creativity and expertise they show on a daily basis and these awards are a proof point of the effort that we put into Formula E. We do not rest on our laurels though and will continue in our endeavours to be world leaders in this industry, both on and off the track.”
On top of their Social Media excellence, Mahindra Racing also won the Modis Engineer of the Year courtesy of Alberto Blanco. He joined Mahindra racing as a fan and Formula E reporter, having written approximately 200 articles and radio programmes on the sport. Then, he won an internship which allowed him to work in motorsport for the first time as part of his Masters Degree with QEV Tech. After being there for a year, Alberto’s team manager wanted him to join Mahindra Racing’s race team. He joined Mahindra at the 2017 Bueno Aires ePrix, and he is now the team’s Race Strategy Engineer. He is a true inspiration for others to take a leap into the unknown in changing his career path.
Alberto Blanco was delighted after receiving this award, “I am honoured to have been awarded the Modis Engineer of the Year. It was a very emotional moment for me and I thank Mahindra Racing for the incredible opportunity they have given me.
“When I first saw Formula E, I knew that I wanted to be a witness of the evolution of this silent revolution. I hope my story is inspiring to anyone else that wants to achieve their dreams, whether that is in racing or any other walk of life.”
