Maserati will return to motor racing next year after confirming it plans to enter the Formula E world championship.
The Italian performance and luxury car brand will join the series when it introduces its new third-generation chassis and drivetrain for its ninth season in 2023. The ‘Gen3’ car will feature a 350Kw motor capable of pushing the lighter, under-800-kilogram chassis to speeds over more than 320kph (200mph).
The Formula E campaign will be Maserati’s first official foray into international motorsport since their MC12 project in the early 2000s which saw the marque compete in GT1 class racing, taking multiple victories in the Spa 24 Hours.
Maserati is part of the Stellantis automotive group along with DS Automobiles – which already competes in Formula E – Fiat, Citroen, Peugeot and others. The Italian brand is introducing a range of fully electric vehicles under the ‘Folgore’ (Italian for ‘lightning’) badge.
CEO Davide Grasso said the company is “very proud to be back where we belong as protagonists in the world of racing.”
“In the race for more performance, luxury, and innovation, Folgore is irresistible and it is the purest expression of Maserati,” he added. “That’s why we decided to go back to racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship, meeting our customers in the city centers of the world, taking the Trident forward into the future.”
Maserati has not confirmed whether it will compete as a new factory entrant or partner with an existing entry such as Andretti, which ran BMW’s Formula E until last year, or Venturi.
Formula E has been hit by a series of withdrawals in recent years. Audi and BMW are not returning for this year’s championship and Mercedes will leave at the end of the coming season.
New FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem welcomed the latest addition to the all-electric category. “For such an iconic manufacturer with a tremendously proud and successful heritage in motor sport to pledge its commitment to the series is testament to the overwhelming faith in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s future as we prepare to usher in the next era,” he said. “The new Gen3 single-seater will represent the pinnacle of sustainability, technology and performance.”
The new Formula E season will begin in Saudi Arabia at the end of the month.
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Chris
10th January 2022, 23:41
… I guess the last sentence should read > “The 2022 Formula E season”…
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
11th January 2022, 1:46
Ah, no – FE seasons aren’t by year. The championship officially numbers them (so the one about to start is Season 8) but officially the pre-season homologation was in 2021, so it’s the 2021-22 season (as the prior one was 2020-21 etc.
It used to make slightly more sense when we had races in November/December.
MacLeod (@macleod)
11th January 2022, 7:44
Very strange i didn’t know Maserati had any electric cars…. So a conclusion F1 was too expensive to step in if they can’t take over a team.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th January 2022, 7:58
Given that they are focussed on becoming more or less EV only, I am unsure how much sense getting into F1 would make @macleod.
anon
11th January 2022, 8:00
@macleod the GranTurismo that Maserati is planning to launch later this year will have the option of a completely electric powertrain, and the Grecale SUV that they are launching in 2023 is also going to have the option of an electric only powertrain.
Meanwhile, Maserati have also confirmed that every single model in their range will either be a hybrid or fully electric by 2025, with the indication that the Levante and the Quattroporte models are also going to be updated in either 2023 or 2024 (more likely with hybrid drivetrains, as that might be easier to retrofit into those designs).
The plans to move into Formula E are therefore tied to the planned launches of those upcoming electrified cars and Maserati’s electrification plans over the next few years.
MacLeod (@macleod)
11th January 2022, 8:46
Thanks i didn’t knew they were working on it we will see how they fare in Fe.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th January 2022, 7:57
So, do we think they will be starting off from DS tech and branching off of that? Not quite enough time to really develop anything new from the ground up, is there?
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
11th January 2022, 16:14
@bascb Although – this being Stellantis – there was plenty of chat about synergies I think Maserati are building their own technology. They were already researching their own EV programme (and have been for the last two and a half years) so given they only have to build a powertrain, assuming they join up with an existing FE team, it’s fully feasible independently.
DS is also the Peugeot Group side of the uneasy Peugeot-FCA marriage that is Stellantis so there’s some disconnection between the two even a year into pretending that Citroën and Dodge are natural partners.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th January 2022, 17:37
Right, that is what I thought might be the background to them developing their own powertrain yeah @hazelsouthwell. Might be a spicy rivalry on track at times as both vie for top level praise :-)
Would be nice to see a car manufacturer actually take their FE powertrain for a broader platform if Maserati does do that. I would expect some of that to then also make it to things like muscle cars etc.