Munich. Before they set off on their journey to Mexico City
(MEX) for round four of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, the two
BMW i Andretti Motorsport drivers paid a visit to a rather special
place on Monday. At the competence centre for electric drivetrains,
António Félix da Costa (POR) and Alexander Sims (GBR)
met the engineers who developed and assembled the ReD01
drivetrain for the BMW iFE.18. It was time for the two drivers to
say thank you.
“I am very pleased that the opportunity arose to fit this visit in
before the Mexico City E-Prix,” said Félix da Costa. “The BMW i
experts here were by my side when I won on the BMW iFE.18’s debut.
These guys are the ones who makes us go quick and win races – and it’s
great to come here and see where it all happens. We drivers cannot
thank them enough for developing such a fantastic drivetrain.” Sims
said: “I find the technology behind our drivetrain fascinating and
take my hat off to all the employees here for the job done – without
them we wouldn’t be able to enjoy such success in Formula E. It feels
fantastic to give it my all for them in every race to thank them for
their great work with good results.”
The two drivers met their colleagues, who also develop the
drivetrains for the BMW i production models, during an autograph
session at Taunusstraße in Munich (GER). Nicolai Martin, Head of
Development Electric Drivetrains, and BMW Motorsport Director Jens
Marquardt had previously welcomed the two drivers and reviewed the
milestones achieved on the Formula E project. Martin said: “It is
simply fantastic to see that we are so competitive in Formula E with
the BMW i drivetrain for racing use and the car components developed
by BMW Motorsport. António’s win at the season-opener inspired
everyone in our team and showed us that we at BMW i can also set the
benchmark in an environment geared completely towards performance.
That is something we are all very proud of.”
Marquardt added: “The competence centre for electric drivetrains is
the beating heart of our technology lab for iNEXT and future
generations of BMW i models. After the first few races, one thing is
already clear, our colleagues here have responded brilliantly to the
high-performance challenge of motorsport. The knowledge they gain in
the Formula E project flows directly into the development of BMW i
production drive trains. It is precisely this kind of technology
transfer that makes Formula E so valuable to us.”
The next competitive outing for the BMW iFE.18 is on Saturday in
Mexico City. Félix da Costa travels to Mexico in third place in the
Drivers’ Championship with 28 points. Sims is currently tenth with 18
points to his name.
The FANBOOST vote.
FANBOOST gives Formula E fans the opportunity to vote for their
favourite driver and award them an extra boost of power during the
race. The five drivers with the most FANBOOST votes are awarded a
significant burst of power, which they can deploy in a five-second
window during the second half of the race. Fans can vote for their
favourite driver in the six days prior to, and leading up to 15
minutes into, each race. Each fan can vote once per day. There are
three ways to vote: Online at https://fanboost.fiaformulae.com,
via the official Formula E App or on Twitter using the hashtag
#FANBOOST plus the drivers first and last name as a one-word hashtag.
Hashtags of the BMW i Andretti Motorsport drivers:
#AlexanderSims
#AntonioFelixdaCosta