Mahindra Racing can look fondly back at the first one hundred races of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, but Dilbagh Gill knows more history will be made in the next one hundred races.
The team took their first podium finish of season eight in the penultimate round of the year in Seoul last Saturday as Oliver Rowland took second place, and they ended the final year of Gen2 regulations with eighth place in the Teams’ Championship. Sunday’s second race in South Korea was also the one hundredth in the history of Formula E.
Mahindra have been an ever-present in Formula E since its inception and have taken five victories in the championship, three for current NTT IndyCar Series star Felix Rosenqvist and one each for Jerome D’Ambrosio and Alex Lynn.
They have also fielded Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok, Nick Heidfeld, Pascal Wehrlein and Alexander Sims across the opening eight seasons, and will run with Rowland and Brazilian Lucas di Grassi in season nine.
Gill, the Team Principal of the Banbury-based outfit, says there is a lot to be proud of in the opening hundred races of Formula E, but having committed to the Gen3 era which begins next January in Mexico City, he insists there is still history to be made by Mahindra within the all-electric championship.
“When you are a forward-thinking company constantly driving forward technological advancements, it’s essential to always be looking towards the future but we sometimes have to be reminded to stop and look at how far we’ve come,” said Gill.
“Milestones like this provide a good opportunity to pause and reflect for a moment before we go full steam ahead into the next phase of development.
“As a team we can be very proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 100 races. We firmly placed India back on the motorsport map; we’ve positioned Mahindra as a global leader in EV technologies; and we’ve celebrated many great victories.
“From the very first race in Beijing, which is still one of my fondest moments – finally seeing this forward-thinking concept become a reality – right up to the pole position and podium yesterday, we have worked tirelessly and with unwavering passion and dedication.
“But all of this has simply been a foundation. Since Formula E was first founded, we’ve known this was a long-term project with huge ambitions and we’re now, just eight years later, which is really not long in a new motorsport, at the precipice of where we always wanted to be: Gen3.
“So yes, the last 100 races are important to our history, but the next 100 will be where history is made.”
