Maserati has an illustrious history in motorsport, spanning both Formula One and endurance racing at the highest level, but the marque has been absent from the racetrack for more than a decade.
That ends in 2023, when Maserati enters the ninth season of the Formula E World Championship with the new Maserati Tipo Folgore Gen3 electric race car, which was unveiled on Tuesday. Folgore, Italian for “Lightning”, is the name given to Maserati’s planned electric vehicles, the first of which are the GranTurismo Folgore and the Grecale Folgore.
The unveiling of the racer comes almost 100 years after the first Maserati racer, the Tipo 26, made its debut at the 1926 Targa Florio and finished first in its class with Alfieri Maserati at the wheel. It also comes more than 60 years after the unveiling of Maserati’s last single-seat racer, the 250F, which was piloted by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1957 F1 season.
In Formula E, Maserati has merged with existing team Venturi Racing to form the new Team Maserati MSG, to be led by Susie Wolff as CEO and Jerome D’Ambrosio as Team Principal. Confirmed drivers are Edoardo Mortara and Formula E Champion Lucas di Grassi.
The Maserati Tipo Folgore Gen3 they will pilot is based on Formula E’s new Gen3 race car, which debuts in Season 9. As in previous seasons, Gen3 is a common design for all teams, although certain parameters can be developed by individual teams.
The Gen3 is the fastest and most efficient car to be launched in Formula E. A front motor generator is rated at 335 hp, while a rear one is rated at 470 hp. According to the organizers, the car converts about 95% of its battery’s electrical energy into motion and gains an average of 40% of its energy needed for a race from regenerative braking alone. The maximum speed should be over 200 km/h.
The Maserati Tipo Folgore Gen3 will now undergo extensive testing ahead of the first race of the new season, scheduled for January 14th in Mexico City.
The car isn’t the only new racer from Maserati coming out in 2023. The automaker is also developing an MC20 GT2 that will be offered to customer teams competing in the SRO-sanctioned GT2 European Series.