California calling to Mahindra Racing

Long Beach

The Mahindra Racing Formula E Team will be making a return journey to the United States of America this week as the FIA Formula E Championship moves west across the states to California for the sixth round of the season.

The event at Long Beach, California, marks the start of the second half of the season and will see Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna fighting to recover from a difficult race last time out in Miami.

The sixth round of the FIA Formula E Championship will once again be a North American race as the season moves from one iconic city to the next. Racing around the streets of Long Beach the track is synonymous with American motorsport and the sixth round of the championship looks to be an exciting prospect.

The 2.1 km track has played host to a wide range of racing over the years, however it is best known for hosting IndyCar – and while the Formula E cars will be running on a slightly different and shorter track, the familiar start finish line remains.

Over the course of the seven turns Mahindra Racing’s Chandhok and Senna will race beside the waterfront and rainbow lagoon before circling around the Long Beach Convention Center at the center of the circuit.

Long Beach marks what is anticipated to be a turnaround moment in Mahindra Racing’s season following a tough race in Miami. Both drivers and the team have been working hard with engineers from Carlin and Mahindra Reva as they look forward to racing once again in the United States.

Having driven the track on a simulator Chandhok said “The track layout seems to be relatively straightforward – there aren’t really an awful lot of corners and there are some good straights. The track is a similar length to Miami and if the race has the same amount of laps it may be easier on energy use but a little harder on temperature as you spend more time on full throttle.

"I’m happy to be back racing in America even though our last race in Miami was disappointing for us as a team, but I know that we can turn this around and enjoy a more positive race in California."

Senna added, "The entire weekend in Miami was tough for us, in all honesty. We haven’t yet had that stand out race even though we know it’s coming. We’ve picked ourselves up after the previous round and will be coming out fighting at the race in Long Beach which from what I’ve seen so far looks to be an amazing round. If the fans in Miami are anything to go by, we should also have great support in Long Beach."