Mahindra Racing have announced that Oliver Rowland will be joining the team for Season 8 of the FIA Formula E World Championship, replacing Alex Lynn.
The Indian outfit will continue to field an all-British driver line-up with Rowland racing alongside Alexander Sims, who has been retained for a second campaign following his switch from BMW i Andretti for the 2020-21 season.
“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 team mate and look forward to working with him on extracting the most from the car and getting some strong results for the team,” said Rowland.
A switch to Mahindra sees Rowland return to the team he made his one-off Formula E debut with at the 2015 Punta del Este EPrix, deputising for an injured Nick Heidfeld.
Following his third-place finish in the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship with DAMS, the now 29-year-old driver then joined the championship full-time.
Alex Albon’s late call-up to Toro Rosso saw Rowland being signed by the newly-rebranded Nissan e.dams team for the 2018-19 season, partnering Sebastien Buemi.
Three seasons with the Japanese manufacturer has seen Rowland take his maiden victory last year at the penultimate round in Berlin and achieve five podiums and four pole positions along the way. His career-best championship result came in Season 6, where he finished fifth in the drivers’ standings.
However, the 2020-21 season has seen the French outfit slump to 10th in the Teams’ Championship and the introduction of the IM03 powertrain failed to produce the performance hoped for.
The Brit ended the campaign down in the 14th in the Drivers’ Championship, including two podiums in Puebla and the season finale in Berlin.
Rowland’s departure left a vacancy at Nissan e.dams, which has been filled by three-time race winner Maximillian Gunther who has switched over from BMW i Andretti.
The decision to sign Rowland has left Lynn without a seat once again, having joined Mahindra last season to replace Pascal Wehrlein for the final six races in Berlin and comes despite him ending a two-year win drought for the team.
An impressive maiden victory at the second London EPrix helped Mahindra to ninth in the standings, only five points adrift of TAG Heuer Porsche and saw him finish the season 12th in the Drivers’ Championship, seven positions higher than teammate Sims.
“We’re 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.”
“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.”
“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’ll always have a special place in Mahindra Racing’s history books,” added team principal Dilbagh Gill.
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