"Already completed thousands of test kilometres" - How Mahindra is preparing for the 11th Formula E season

While the public gets to see the new Gen3 Evo cars on the track for the first time during the official pre-season testing, things look very different for the teams behind the scenes. With a new chassis, all-wheel drive and the new Hankook tyres, there are a number of components that are already being put through their paces on the racetrack and, above all, tested in combination. Mahindra gives an insight.

The Indian manufacturer officially launched its development programme for the Gen3 Evo car a year ago and is now in the middle of the test phase on the racetrack. "In general, our test programme is going very well," says Technical Director Josef Holden, drawing an initial interim conclusion.

The team has changed its approach to the various test fields for the current programme. "Normally, you would do the reliability tests first and then focus on performance. But for the 16 test days that we get as a manufacturer, we have decided on a 60/40 split, especially because the all-wheel drive will make such a big difference to performance."

500 kilometres per day - "our best tests ever"

Mahindra has already been able to complete thousands of kilometres of testing. Compared to the preparations for the introduction of the Gen3 vehicle, this is considerable progress: "Realistically, we are much further ahead than before. We have managed an average of 500 kilometres per test day so far, which is one of our best tests ever."

What is still missing is a comparison with the other teams and manufacturers. This will only be possible during the official pre-season tests at the beginning of November. "So far, we can only compare ourselves with ourselves. But then we'll see where we stand," concludes Holden.

Just wait 'til you see the livery it's going to race in ? pic.twitter.com/UriPsoRx6U

- Mahindra Racing (@MahindraRacing) September 6, 2024

First goal: Eliminating teething troubles

On the track, test and reserve driver Jordan King was and is primarily responsible for preparing the car for regular drivers Edo Mortara and Nyck de Vries. "We had to deal with a few teething problems at the beginning due to the many new parts on the car. But that's to be expected and always the first goal in testing is to eliminate them."

The team has now put the teething problems behind them: "Now we can be more rigorous in our approach and push to the limit. We are currently trying to understand where we can find the best performance with the front-wheel drive, the new tyres and, above all, the interaction between these two components. We have put a lot of time into the front-wheel drive in particular."

"It's almost as if we're trying some things again that we've already tried in the Gen3 car to see whether it fits better with the new car or whether we need to continue working in a completely different direction," said the test driver.

The development work on a completely new car is very different from that on a fully developed car, King continues: "There you only make minor changes to the setup. Here, every small change makes a huge difference on the track." The teams still have a good two and a half months left to optimally prepare their new car for the new season.