Mahindra Racing has signed Formula 2 racer Kush Maini as its reserve driver for the upcoming season of the Formula E World Championship. With this change, Kush takes over the role held by Jehan Daruvala, who was a member of the Indian team last year. Season 10 of the FIA Formula E Championship will begin in January of 2023/2024 with the Mexico e-Prix.
The signing of Kush Maini with Mahindra Racing is just the most recent step in a string of positive ones that have occurred in his professional life over the past three months. The Bengaluru-based racer became known in October as the apprentice of Mika Hakkinen, a two-time Formula 1 winner. After reaching this benchmark, he solidified his future in motorsport by becoming a junior driver at the Alpine Academy. Earlier this year, Formula E made its debut in Hyderabad, and now the FIA has confirmed that the city will host the next season of the series as well.
Also Read: Interview with Kush Maini: How It All Unfolded from F3 to F2 to F1 with Mika Hakkinen
Formula E: Kush Maini's Role at Mahindra Racing
Maini, in his capacity as a recent recruit to Mahindra Racing, will engage in tight collaboration with the team's race drivers, Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries, in addition to reserve driver Jordan King. Maini will engage in simulator sessions, actively participate in certain e-Prix events to offer team support, and have the opportunity to do testing on the M10Electro race car in his designated role.
Welcome to the Formula E family, @kmainiofficial
The 23-year-old from Bangalore joins @MahindraRacing as their reserve driver after an impressive rise through the @FIA single-seater pathway over the last seven years
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) November 15, 2023
Kush Maini commented: "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 added: "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-focussed 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 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."
Formula E: Kush Maini's Racing Career
For those who don't know, Kush Maini is the younger brother of Arjun Maini, who used to race in Formula 2 and now acts as a test driver for the Haas F1 team. Kush did really well to come second in the 2020 British F3 Championship. He won a race and finished on the podium seven times in 2018, finishing third in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship. After having his best season yet, Kush is motivated to solidify his place as one of India's most promising Formula 1 prospects.
It was a success for Kush in karting before he switched to driving cars. He set new standards for Indian and Asian drivers at events in Europe. He was the first Indian to win the 60 Mini class in 2013, and he followed that up with a good fourth-place finish in the 2014 CIK-FIA World Karting Championship. Kush has done well in karting as shown by his second-place finish in the WSK Euro Series and third-place finish in the WSK Masters Series.
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