Mahindra Racing have announced that they will pair Alexander Sims and Oliver Rowland for their season 8 championship campaign.
Sims, who has just finished his debut season for the Indian team after two years with BMW i Andretti, took the team’s first podium of 2021 with P2 at the second race around Rome. The British driver said that he learnt a lot over his first year with Mahindra and is looking to use that knowledge to help the team achieve more next season.
“I’ve enjoyed working with everyone at the team this season,” Sims said. “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.”
After making his Formula E debut in a one-off appearance for Mahindra back at the season 2 Punta del Este race, deputising for an injured Nick Heidfeld, Oliver Rowland had to wait another three years before getting onto the grid once more. Rowland joined Nissan e.dams for a three-year stint alongside Sebastien Buemi after Alexander Albon departed that team in favour of Toro Rosso just as the pre-season tests were starting.
The British driver stepped up at the last minute and made a very solid pairing with Buemi, providing his team with five poles and five podiums, including a win at the penultimate Berlin race in 2020, also helping Nissan to second in the Teams’ Championship in 2020.
“I’m very excited to be joining Mahindra Racing for Season 8,” said Rowland. “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 team mate and look forward to working with him on extracting the most from the car and getting some strong results for the team.”
Team Principal, Dilbagh Gill, was delighted to bring Rowland back to the Indian team and believes that, along with Sims, they will have one of the best pairings in the series next season.
“We’re very happy to welcome Oliver back to the Mahindra Racing family,” Gill said. “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.”
“It will be the last year of racing before we move to the Gen3 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.”
He also thanked the team’s departing driver, Alex Lynn, who initially joined for the Berlin races in 2020 before being signed for the whole of season 7. Lynn saw Mahindra to three podiums this year with his highlight being the London double header where he took pole, a third and his debut Formula E win.
“We would like to thank Alex Lynn,” Gill added. “For his contribution to the team over the last season and a half – we have made some unforgettable memories together and he’ll always have a special place in Mahindra Racing’s history books.”
