Formula E travels to Mexico for round four of the season

The second of three ABB FIA Formula E Championship rounds in the Americas: On Saturday, February 16, the fully electric racing series will hold round four of the 2018/2019 season in Mexico City. The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team will be racing in Latin America’s biggest metropolis with the most successful car this season to date: In the Audi e-tron FE05 equipped with Schaeffler technology, Daniel Abt, most recently in third place in Santiago de Chile, clinched the team’s first podium and on posting the fastest race lap continued to underpin the squad’s upward trend. Sam Bird from Team Envision Virgin Racing that is fielding two other Audi e-tron FE05 cars in 2018/2019 scored the electric race car’s first victory this season in Chile.

Formula E is traveling to Autódromo Hermano Rodríguez for the fourth time since 2015. The modified Formula E circuit, shortened to 2.093 kilometers, is the only permanent race track on the Formula One calendar and has been a good one for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in the past two years: 2017 saw Lucas di Grassi winning the race in spite of a collision and an additional pit stop including an exchange of the rear wing. In 2018, Daniel Abt celebrated his first ever Formula E triumph in Mexico’s capital city that marked the first victory of a German driver in the all-electric racing category as well.

This is Formula E

Formula E is an FIA-sanctioned motor racing series for fully electric cars. In 2018/2019, Formula E season five, eleven teams and 22 drivers are on the grid. Formula E races worldwide on temporary circuits in the hearts of metropolises such as Hong Kong, Berlin and New York City. From December 15, 2018 until July 14, 2019, the ABB FIA Formula E Championship is holding 13 rounds at twelve venues. Each race lasts 45 minutes, plus one lap.

Schaeffler in Formula E

Schaeffler is one of the co-founders and one of the most notable and successful players in Formula E. In 2016/2017, Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler won the drivers’ title (Lucas di Grassi) and in 2017/2018, the teams’ title (Lucas di Grassi/Daniel Abt). Schaeffler has been contributing its know-how to the development of the powertrain since 2015. In doing so, the company demonstrates its expertise in forward-thinking technologies and presents ideas for sustainable mobility for tomorrow in the innovative electric racing series as well.

The new Formula E technology

In season five, Formula E is entering its second era. The most conspicuous innovation for 2018/2019 going forward: Every driver has only one race car anymore. The reason is that the second-generation cars mark the end of the mid-race car swaps previously required at each Formula E event because the battery capacity is now sufficient for the entire race distance. New as well starting this season is the cars’ futuristic design without a rear wing, plus the Halo protection system above the cockpit.

The new Audi e-tron FE05 was meticulously developed by Audi Sport and Schaeffler with the new technical and strategic challenges in mind. The motor-generator unit named Audi Schaeffler MGU03, the centerpiece of the Audi e-tron FE05, was jointly developed by the two technology partners. 95 percent of all powertrain components are new, having resulted in weight savings of ten percent. Two Audi e-tron FE05 cars are fielded by the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler factory team for Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt and, in 2018/2019, two by the recently added Envision Virgin Racing customer team with drivers Sam Bird and Robin Frijns.