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Written by Merisse Baker
The Formula E Season 9 championship is only a quarter of the way through and one team has found a major problem with their car. Can they get it fixed in time for the rest of the season?
Mahindra headed to the Cape Town E-Prix optimistic, having already achieved a podium with Lucas Di Grassi in Mexico and scoring points at their home race in India last time out. However, during practice for the first ever South African E-Prix this weekend the team started to experience some suspension issues.
Luas Di Grassi podium in Mexico - Image via FIA Formula E
During FP1 Lucas Di Grassi reported a broken rear suspension and had to stop on track, as well as Kelvin van der Linde - who has replaced an injured Frijns at ABT - also stopped on track for a suspected suspension issue.
Due to safety concerns, Mahindra have announced that both their drivers - Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Rowland - will not take part in qualifying or the race, in case of another suspension failure. As ABT are a customer team of Mahindra and the supply of a suspension is part of their powertrain deal, the German team will also withdraw from the weekend.
The team have stated that a thorough investigation of the rear suspension will take place when they return to the UK, in hopes that the problem can be fixed for the next race in Brazil.
As a result we will only have 18 cars on the grid this weekend instead of 22, and Mahindra will be disappointed with no running, but safety is of utmost importance in the sport.
Abt on track during FP1 in Cape Town - Image via Formula E
A disappointing weekend before it's even started for both Mahindra and Abt, but with only a month until Round 6, will they have enough time to fix the problem?
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