Lucas Di Grassi Feeling “one hundred-percent ready’ With Hope That “everything goes smoothly”

Lucas Di Grassi is ready to put his “really hard” work from the off-season into use, as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship returns this weekend for Season Nine, and the highly anticipated start of Gen3.

With Di Grassi being a Formula E veteran and a former Champion of the sport, he is one of a few drivers to have actually driven all three generations of Formula E machinery. With that in mind, himself and a small group of drivers will become the first to have raced all three, with the Mexico City E-Prix being the host of the first Gen3 race.

The Brazilian driver has a strong track record at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and is a two-time race winner at the event, with his wins coming in Season Three and Season Five. It does mean that Di Grassi has won in Mexico City in both Gen1 and Gen2 machinery, could he add Gen3 to that list this weekend? Whilst he is likely to be an outsider for victory, given the strength of the DS-powered cars, Mahindra Racing have looked like a very tidy team for Season Nine.

Di Grassi has switched from ROKIT Venturi Racing (known now as Maserati MSG Racing) to Mahindra for Gen3, with the Brazilian so far enjoying life at the Banbury-based outfit.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Di Grassi is in the right frame of mind for the “new challenge” that is Gen3, with the Brazilian simply hoping that “everything goes smoothly” in Mexico City.

“It’s the first race of the season with the new Gen3 car so it is a new challenge for everybody. I like the Mexico track, the Mexican fans are the best and it is one of my favourite races of the year that I really look forward to. I’ve won before in Mexico – twice at Mexico City – so I have a huge passion for this race.

“I’ve been working really hard since the Christmas break to get my mind and body into shape and be 100% ready to get to work in Mexico. Now the season starts. I hope everything goes smoothly and we can collect some good points for the team.”

“Reliability will be the key” – Oliver Rowland

On the other side of the Mahindra garage is Oliver Rowland, who has remained at the Anglo-Indian team for a second consecutive campaign, following a mixed end to Gen2 for the Brit. Rowland suffered a remarkable number of DNFs in 2022, with Gen3 seemingly being somewhat of a fresh start for him.

To his credit, he looked very good in pre-season testing, with the British driver having been amongst the top six for the vast majority of the week at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia. Mahindra’s Gen3 challenger the M9Electro, looked fast and crucially reliable in pre-season, with the side having enjoyed better reliability than most of the paddock.

Rowland is aware that this weekend in Mexico City “reliability will be key”, with the first race of the Gen3 era set to be one of attrition.

“I’m looking forward to getting going again in Mexico. It’s an exciting time with a new car and a new set of rules and lots of different things to learn. The test in Valencia was quietly positive and we are looking forward to the year ahead. Reliability will be key so having a clean weekend is the aim. The Mexican fans are always fantastic to have around. I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully we can get a good result and bring home some points.”