The Mahindra Racing Formula E team are calling on fans to help the team ahead of the first race of the inaugural FIA Formula E championship. The Indian team, who will field Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna in the world’s first fully electric championship will line up on the grid for the first time on 13th September in Beijing China. In a unique feature, fans will be able to have a direct impact on the racing action, through the Formula E FanBoost – which will reward the most voted for drivers with the equivalent of an additional 90bhp.
For the first time, the FanBoost system will allow a public vote to determine which drivers are given extra power during the races. Voting for the opening race of the season in Beijing is now open, allowing a public vote to determine which drivers are given extra power to deploy during a race. The three drivers with the most votes will each receive one 2.5-second ‘power boost’, temporarily increasing their car’s power from 133kw (180bhp) to 200kw (270bhp).
The public can make their votes via social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Sina Weibo pages and will be able to select just one driver. Fans voting via the official Formula E app which launches on 1 September will get five votes.
Votes from the public will be independently verified by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, with the results disclosed to the teams just 20 minutes before the race. Voting closes the day of the race.
Mahindra Racing driver, Karun Chandhok said, “It’s great to have the fans interact with the teams and drivers in such a direct way. Some purists may struggle to understand the principle but the world has changed and it’s great to be able to embrace social media and the internet. We need to get people more involved in motorsport and electric vehicle technology and Formula E have done a great job in coming up with ideas like this. Hopefully as the only Indian driver in the championship in the only Indian team we’ll have a good chunk of the 1.2 billion people in India helping us out!!”
Team mate Bruno Senna added, “I think this is a good feature from Formula E to have more interaction with the fans and it should make it even more exciting in that the public can influence the results of the race so directly. Formula E races will all take place around street circuits, where overtaking will be difficult, and the additional boost available will be a massive advantage in this. It’s important for us as drivers that the fans vote for us! It would be great to see our fans helping Mahindra Racing get the best possible result on track.”
Team Principal Dilbagh Gill is also counting on the support of fans to help his team in the opening event, “We have just one aim for the first race of the season in China and that is to try and win the first ever Formula E race! We have put together a fantastic team and two brilliant drivers, but uniquely we also need the support of our fans to take Mahindra Racing to victory. The additional power from the FanBoost system could make the difference between victory and the rest of the field. We need people to support their national team in India, and all of Karun and Bruno’s fans from around the world to vote.”
Fans can show their support for Mahindra Racing via the Formula E web site http://fanboost.fiaformulae.com/# . Voting on the official Formula E app will be launched on 1 September, details to follow.
