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ABT Sportsline confirmed that they are making their return to Formula E as a private team in 2023, and they will work together with Mahindra in terms of engines.
ABT’s team are working closely with Mahindra, who will power the returning side, as they develop their Gen 3 cars. The vehicles will arrive in Kempten in October while engineers run simulations and set up the right software to work with next season.
The new drivers have not yet been announced. ABT plan to reveal their driver line-up ahead of the double-header in Seoul, which will see the end of the 2022 season. The side will be competing as a private team and are prepared for the set of challenges ahead of them. The biggest of them could be the fact that they are up against top leading global car manufacturers such as Nissan and Porsche.
McLaren will also be joining the grid for Season 9 of the Formula E series and this will make it an even harder challenge for the private team to keep up with. But they are determined and Mahindra’s power and their expertise in the sport will surely be of great insight to the side.
ABT already raced in Formula E, achieving their first ever win in Beijing in 2014. They partnered with Audi from 2017 to 2021. Lucas Di Grassi made up part of their driver line-up when he won the championship in 2017. They then won the constructors a season later.
Comments from the leaders
ABT CEO Thomas Biermaier and Mahindra CEO and Team Principal Dilbagh Gill spoke about the partnership with Formula E.
Biermaier said, ““We are looking forward to this new Allgau-India connection and are grateful that Mahindra Racing and its partners are supporting us in our comeback in Formula E. Mahindra Racing and ABT have a long history together: both brands were founding members of Formula E almost a decade ago, have had many great battles and have jointly driven the development of the series off the track. Now we are continuing our journey within an intense technical collaboration.
“As a customer team, we also want to bring our experience from seven years of Formula E with over 80 races and over a decade of electric mobility at ABT Sportsline to the partnership.”
Gill said: “ABT is one of the top-level race outfits in the world and we’ve long-enjoyed racing competitively against them. It’s an honour to be able to take our powertrain, developed in partnership with ZF, and support the team in its return to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
“Both Mahindra Racing and ABT Sportsline were championship founding teams and its absence in the paddock has been felt hugely. We look forward to seeing the team back winning races from 2023 and we are committed to supporting them with whatever they need to succeed.”
Feature Image Credit: Formula E