Mahindra Racing announced that it has signed Indian racer Kush Maini as a Reserve Driver for the upcoming season of the FIA Formula E World Championship. Having built his career in single-seater racing, this will be Maini’s first time behind an electric race car and the experience should help the budding racer hone his skills on the track.
Kush Maini is one of the promising Indian names in the global motorsport arena. The 23-year-old Bangalore-based driver has been racing in FIA single-seater races for the last seven years. Having started his career with the Italian F4 in 2016, Maini moved on to compete in Formula 3, the Formula Renault Eurocup, and the FIA Formula 3. He is currently competing in Formula 2 and scored his first podium in Melbourne, Australia, this year.
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Speaking about joining Mahindra Racing, Kush Maini said, “It’s a huge honour to be joining Mahindra Racing. Being an Indian driver, and the team being Indian, it feels in many ways like coming home. A lot of my work will be concentrated on the simulator, and hopefully getting in the car for the Rookie Test. I’m just going to try and learn as much as I can, it’s a different style of racing. I’ll be doing as much work as possible on the sim with the engineers to try and be helpful for both Edoardo and Nyck and to try and help push the team forward on track. Mahindra is a huge manufacturer, so for me, it’s a massive deal to be signing with them. Being an Indian brand, it’s the cherry on top of the cake. I’m super excited to get started.”
Mahindra Racing’s CEO Frederic Bertrand, said, “We are excited to welcome Kush to Mahindra Racing as a Reserve Driver. He has a great record that speaks for itself in the junior formulae and is an exciting talent to add to our driver lineup. We are a very future-focused team, so the opportunity to support new and emerging talent, such as Kush, is one we are naturally keen to explore. We’ve been watching him in FIA Formula 2 this season, and we believe he has all the key skills and attributes to help Mahindra Racing push on for greater success in the future. His synergy with Edoardo, Nyck and Jordan will play an important role in the team’s continued push for better performance on-track, and off-track he is a superb ambassador for India within motorsport.”
Kush Maini is the protégé of two-time Formula 1 champion Mika Hakkinen and will be driving the M10Electro electric race car, alongside fellow reserve driver Jordan King. The team signed Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara as its main drivers earlier this year. As part of his role, Maini will be involved in simulator sessions, attend selected e-Prix events to support the team and have the opportunity to test the M10Electro race car on select occasions. Maini was also signed by the Alpine Academy as a junior driver earlier this year
The 2023/24 Formula E will kick off in January next year with the Mexico e-Prix. The all-electric racing championship is all set to return to India for the second time next season with the Hyderabad e-Prix added to the calendar. Prior to Kush, Mumbai-based F2 driver Jehan Daruvala joined the team as a reserve driver last season.
First Published Date: 19 Nov 2023, 20:37 PM IST
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