Coughton's Alexander Sims revved up for next chapter in his career after leaving ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
ALEXANDER Sims is looking forward to “enjoying his racing again” after departing the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for sportscar racing.
The Coughton racer endured a difficult two years with Mahindra Racing in the all-electric series and while he did have the option to stay in the championship with another team for a further season, the 34-year-old decided it was time for a new chapter in his career.
That is likely to be a return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in America, a series which Sims last competed in during 2017 and 2018. It is yet to be announced which team the former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner will be racing for but Sims did reveal it would not be Corvette Racing.
“I absolutely love that format of racing,” he told the Herald. “It’s looking likely I will be back competing in IMSA which will be really good fun.
“I will be racing in sportscars but it will not be with Corvette.
“I think there will be an announcement in the first or second week of September.”
He added: “The main bulk of my decision to leave Formula E was to get back to something where I can perform at a level where I can enjoy my racing again.
“Going back to Le Mans and other races in GTs where my performances made so much more sense was the nail in the coffin in solidifying my decision to leave Formula E.
“I’m looking forward to getting back into a format of racing I’ve enjoyed in the past but also looking forward to spending more time with my family too.”
Looking back at his difficult time with Mahindra Racing over the past two years in Formula E, Sims told the Herald the hardest thing to cope with mentally was not understanding in the rare moments there were good performances how those happened.
“It’s been very frustrating for everyone involved really,” he said. “We have seen a few moments where we’ve been pretty strong. We’ve qualified on the front row a couple of times and had a couple of other top ten starts, which in a normal season is pretty shocking.
“The hardest thing mentally was when we did have good performance and we tried to do things to understand why I had a good feeling from the car, we could not quantify why I had that good feeling.
“It was really tough facing up to the fact I could not work out what was right when it was right. I did not know what to chase to have a good performance again.”
In the end, Sims admitted it was not a hard decision to walk away from Formula E but nevertheless he has thoroughly enjoyed his time in the series which he has been a part of since the 2018-19 season.
“I could just tell that I had this growing feeling that Formula E just wasn’t the place where I felt comfortable to try and pursue a future for the long term,” he said.
“I had an option to stay with another team but I could not see a reason why it would be much different and I’m not interested in going racing just to earn money and not be confident with what’s happening with my performances.
“I could not see a reason why my performances would change so I knew it was time to get out.”
He added: “Leaving Formula E feels like giving up a little bit but it was not through lack of effort or trying. However, there are limitations to what you can do.
“My only regret is I could not turn around my performances with Mahindra. It’s been a great experience racing at different places around the world and I’ve worked with some brilliant and very technically clever people.
“I’ve learnt a lot of things that I never anticipated learning in a racing environment about electric vehicles and efficiency. It made a lot of sense to join Formula E when I got the opportunity and it is one of the top racing categories in the world.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure to be part of Formula E but I recognised it just wasn’t for me in the long term.”
