Based in Banbury, England, the Mahindra Group's racing arm has raced in Formula E since 2014 and won its first Formula E race in 2017, after a motorcycle programme that made Indian racing history.
Mahindra Racing is the motor racing arm of the Mahindra Group, based in Banbury, England. It has raced in Formula E since 2014, won its first race in 2017, and earlier ran a Moto3 programme that gave India its first MotoGP podium.
Mahindra Racing is a motor racing team based in Banbury, England, competing under an Indian racing licence. It is part of the Mahindra Group, and it has raced in the electric FIA Formula E World Championship since the inaugural season in 2014.
What is Mahindra Racing?
The team was one of the ten founding teams in the 2014-15 Formula E season. It also competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, fielding a team in the 125cc class, later renamed Moto3, between 2011 and 2015. Mahindra later refocused on supplying bikes and engines, before it left the motorcycle sport in 2017.
The team is therefore two stories in one: a motorcycle programme that made Indian racing history, and an electric programme that has used its own powertrains and changed drivers many times. Its base remains in Banbury, England. Its story is one of rapid change, with new bikes, new cars and new drivers almost every season. The team's Indian racing licence and the Mahindra Group backing are the two defining features of its identity.
An Indian-backed team that raced in Formula E from its first season and took its first win in 2017 after a Moto3 programme.
How did the team begin in Formula E?
In the opening 2014-15 season the team took part as one of the ten founders of the championship. Its early cars used a powertrain supplied to all teams, and the team then prepared its own technology for later seasons.
In its second season the team built its own electric powertrain, the M2Electro, for its electric racing cars. Nick Heidfeld scored the team's first podium in the opening round at Beijing, and Bruno Senna finished second in the first of the two season-finale races in London.
The M2Electro's efficiency and dependability also produced seven double points finishes over the year. The car was used for the team's quartet of electric racing cars, and its performance gave the team a solid base. That performance gave the team a platform for the next stage of its development.
When did Mahindra win its first Formula E race?
In 2016-17 the rookie Felix Rosenqvist joined Heidfeld, and the team developed the M3Electro. The car proved a competitive package and gave the team its maiden win, with Rosenqvist at the 2017 Berlin ePrix.
Nine more podiums, three poles and two fastest-lap awards followed that season. Its maiden win was a milestone for a Formula E programme still only in its third season. Those results were underscored by its third place in the Teams' Championship.
How did the 2017-18 season go?
Rosenqvist and Heidfeld stayed for the fourth season, piloting the M4Electro to two more victories, in Hong Kong and Marrakesh, and three pole positions. The start was strong, and the team finished fourth overall in the teams' championship.
Rosenqvist was in the drivers' title hunt for much of the season, and his challenge was one of the most visible results of the programme in its middle years.
How did the driver line-up change in 2018-19?
For the fifth season Rosenqvist left to join Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar, and he was replaced by the former Dragon Racing driver Jerome d'Ambrosio. Heidfeld stepped down from his race seat to become a special adviser and official reserve driver.
Heidfeld was replaced by the former Manor and Sauber Formula One driver, and DTM champion, Pascal Wehrlein. In the M5Electro, the pair managed one win, two podiums and two fastest laps, plus a pole and seven Super Pole appearances, and finished sixth in the championship.
What happened in 2019-20 and 2020-21?
The team kept Wehrlein and d'Ambrosio for season six, a deal announced at a German launch event in October 2019. Alex Lynn was brought in to take over from Wehrlein for the remainder of 2019-20, a move confirmed on 24 June 2020. The team finished that season ninth in the constructors' standings.
D'Ambrosio later announced his retirement from professional racing to take on a team principal role at Venturi Racing. On 29 October 2020 Mahindra revealed the new M7Electro car, with Alexander Sims and Alex Lynn confirmed as the driver line-up for the 2020-21 season. Lynn secured a race victory at London Race 2.
How did the team change in the 2020s?
Lynn was replaced by Oliver Rowland for the 2021-22 season. Sims did not return for 2022-23, and Lucas di Grassi took his place. Team principal Dilbagh Gill departed in September 2022 and was placed on gardening leave, and Frederic Bertrand replaced him.
In May 2023 it was announced that Rowland would leave, and Roberto Merhi replaced him for the 2023 Jakarta ePrix. Di Grassi left the team on 26 September 2023, and the following day Mahindra announced the signing of the 2020-21 series champion Nyck De Vries and Edoardo Mortara for 2023-24.
In January 2024 Mahindra drew criticism after a computer-made Instagram persona, Ava Rose, was presented as a brand ambassador in place of a real woman. After the backlash the account was deleted, and the chief executive and principal Frederic Bertrand announced that the programme would be discontinued.
How did the motorcycle programme begin?
The motorcycle side began in the CIV national championship, where the team entered the 125cc class in December 2012 with the Indian rider S. Sarath Kumar and the Italian Riccardo Moretti, the 2009 125cc champion. Moretti won the season opener at Mugello, the team's first win in that series.
In the final race of the 2012 season Miroslav Popov took first place, with the newcomer Lukas Trautmann second on debut. That double podium earned the 2012 CIV Constructors' Cup, which made Mahindra the first Indian team to win an international motorsport championship.
In 2011 Mahindra Racing made its motor racing debut in the 125cc class of MotoGP, which was then in its last year. It used the GP125 bike built by Engines Engineering, a company Mahindra had acquired in 2008. Danny Webb took the team's first pole position in the last race of its first season, at Valencia, and the team finished third in the constructors' championship.
In 2012 the team moved into the new Moto3 class, using the MGP3O built by Engines Engineering. Marcel Schrotter scored the team's first Moto3 points with a 12th place at Le Mans on 20 May 2012, but he parted ways with the team before the Mugello round. The first year of the four-stroke class proved challenging, and it prompted a change of direction.
In August 2012 the team announced a partnership with Suter Racing Technology to build an all-new MG3PO, and it moved its base from Italy to Switzerland. The MG3PO was built over four months at the team base in Turbenthal, Switzerland, and it debuted at the 2013 season opener in Qatar with a double top-ten finish.
What were the highlights of the Moto3 years?
In 2013 Miguel Oliveira finished fifth at the Circuit of the Americas, the team's best performance at that point. In the same year the CIV Moto3 class brought further success, as Andrea Locatelli won the first race of the season and the team went on to win the CIV Constructors' Championship in Moto3 in 2013 and again in 2015. At the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix Mahindra took the first podium ever for an Indian constructor in the MotoGP World Championship series. The MGP3O recorded top-five finishes in ten of the 17 rounds, and the squad ended the year third among constructors.
In 2014 the MGP3O recorded three podiums. Brad Binder, riding a customer machine for Ambrogio Racing, took a best-ever second place at the German Grand Prix, and Oliveira secured the first podium of the season at Assen. Mahindra finished third overall in the Moto3 constructors' rankings.
After 2014 Mahindra stopped running its own team and concentrated on supplying bikes to customer teams. In 2013 it supplied two MGP3O machines to Ambrogio Racing, its first customer team, and in 2014 it added CIP Moto3 and San Carlo Team Italia. It opened a new engineering and development centre in Besozzo, Italy. In 2015 it became a full-scale independent constructor, supporting four customer teams, and in January 2015 it acquired a 51% stake in Peugeot Motocycles. In 2015 a Mahindra customer team also recorded a podium at the French Grand Prix.
The 2016 season brought Francesco Bagnaia to the podium at Qatar, and then to his first win at Assen, Mahindra's maiden world championship victory. Bagnaia had earlier taken podiums at Jerez and Mugello, showing how quickly the customer machines could compete at the front. John Mcphee won the wet Czech Grand Prix, and the team scored its first double podium there. In June 2017 Mahindra announced it would leave Moto3 to focus on Formula E, and it remains the only Indian constructor to have taken part in that series.
What are the key results?
| Series | Result | Year |
|---|---|---|
| MotoGP 125cc | First pole, Danny Webb at Valencia | 2011 |
| Moto3 | First points, Marcel Schrotter 12th at Le Mans | 2012 |
| MotoGP Moto3 | First podium for an Indian constructor, Malaysia | 2013 |
| Formula E | First podium, Nick Heidfeld at Beijing | 2015 |
| Formula E | Maiden win, Felix Rosenqvist at Berlin | 2017 |
| Formula E | Wins at Hong Kong and Marrakesh, fourth overall | 2018 |
| Formula E | One win, two podiums, sixth overall | 2019 |
| Formula E | Race win at London Race 2, Alex Lynn | 2021 |
What is the legacy of Mahindra Racing?
The team's CIV record, including the 2012 constructors' cup, shows its early success outside the world championship. That record gives it a place in the story of Indian motorsport as well as European racing.
Mahindra Racing's legacy is a Formula E team that built its own powertrains and produced the first win in the series for its company. Its motorcycle history brought the first Indian podium in MotoGP and a place in the Moto3 story.
The end of the Formula E programme in 2024 closes one chapter, and the team's record across its two sports still stands out for a company of its kind. Its history shows how a company from India could take on world championships in two different sports.
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