Oliver Rowland has signed up with Mahindra Racing for the upcoming 2022 Formula E season. He will be joining teammate Brit Alexander Sims, who stays on with the Indian squad for another year.
- Rowland, Sims confirmed at Mahindra for Formula E Season 8
- Rowland had made a one-off appearance for Mahindra earlier
Rowland switches from Nissan to Mahindra
Rowland joins Mahindra after spending three seasons racing for Nissan e-dams. He was drafted in to replace Alex Albon at the team as it transitioned from Renault to Nissan for the 2018/19 Formula E season. In his time with Nissan, Rowland has collected one race win and four podium finishes from 39 starts.
The British driver is no stranger to Mahindra Racing either. He had made a one-off appearance for the team at the 2015 Punta del Este E-Prix, replacing Nick Heidfeld who had injured his hand.
Explaining his move, Rowland said, “I’m very excited to be joining Mahindra Racing for Season 8. Moving to a new team there will of course be a transition but I think that, with the combination of my experience in Formula E and the team’s results last season, we have the potential to achieve some great things together. I’m really happy to have Alexander as my teammate and look forward to working with him on extracting the most from the car and getting some strong results for the team.”
Alexander Sims stays with Mahindra
This means Rowland will be replacing Alex Lynn at Mahindra Racing. Alexander Sims, however, will continue racing for the team for a second season running. He finished 19th overall in the drivers’ championship last season, with a highlight being his podium finish at the Rome E-Prix.
“I’ve enjoyed working with everyone at the team this season and we’ve learned a lot as the year progressed and have secured some strong results. There’s the potential to achieve more in Season 8 and we’ll be working hard to apply the learnings from this season into the next. I’m really looking forward to working with Oliver who’s clearly very fast and a great racer,” said Sims.
Mahindra Racing hopeful for strong Formula E Season 8
The 2021 season was a key year of transition for the team, with the M7Electro featuring an all-new powertrain – the first one developed for the team by ZF Friedrichshafen AG. The Indian squad ended up 9th in the overall standings, ahead of Nissan, Dragon and Nio 333. But Mahindra ended the season on an encouraging note, having made significant progress towards the end and even picking up a long awaited win at the London E-Prix.
With all the hardware homologated (essentially locked in spec) for the next season, Mahindra Racing is certainly primed for a much stronger start to Season 8. The season kicks off in January 2022, and it will be the final season under the current regulations before the Gen 3 era kicks off.
“We are very happy to welcome Oliver back to the Mahindra Racing family. After starting out his Formula E career with us in 2015, he has a proven record in the series as a strong qualifier and a strong racer. I believe we have one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid and am delighted that Alexander will be racing with the team for another year,” added Dilbagh Gill, CEO and team principal of Mahindra Racing.
Gill also thanked the departing Lynn for his contribution to the team: “It will be the last year of racing before we move to the Gen 3 era and Mahindra Racing is looking forward to continuing its journey in Formula E, which started back in 2013, when we were the first OEM to sign up to the championship. We would like to thank Alex Lynn for his contribution to the team over the last season and a half – we have made some unforgettable memories together and he will always have a special place in Mahindra Racing’s history books.”
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Mercedes to leave Formula E in end 2022