Karun Chandhok to focus on sportscar racing following Mahindra split

Following the news of Karun Chandhok no longer being a part of Mahindra Racing's FIA Formula E Championship effort, the Chennai born driver has stated that he is likely to focus on sportscar racing and competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as much as possible.

"There were problems on both sides when it came to the decision to part ways," Chandhok told autoX. "My results were clearly not good of course in the latter half of the season but I felt like there were issues with the team as well and so we decided to go our separate ways although there was some talk of doing one or two races but definitely not a full campaign."

Chandhok scored just two points scoring finishes for 18 points over the course of the 11 races, retiring from one, in the inaugural Formula E season while his Brazilian teammate Bruno Senna - with whom he had been teammates previously in GP2 and Formula 1 - scored four points scoring finishes for a haul of 40 points while retiring from three races and not being classified in one where he looked set to score a podium position.

Chandhok claims the split has not left any 'bad blood' with Mahindra Racing, who are undergoing a drastic change in their operations, which includes tying up with Spain's Campos Racing, who partnered with the NEXTEV TCR team that won the inaugural Formula E drivers' championship with Nelson Piquet Jr. behind the wheel.

In the wake of the decision to move on from Formula E, Chandhok has been looking at options in sportscar racing, particularly the GTE category of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

"There seems to be a large amount of interest in sportscar racing at the moment and especially the GT classes so it is likely that I would be looking for options there with a factory team," said Chandhok. "Le Mans this year was a great experience for me and after a really tough campaign in Formula E it reminded me why I like racing cars so much so I would definitely want to get back there."

The switch is unlikely to happen this year, however, as the WEC and other sportscar racing series are deep into their current campaigns.

Karun Chandhok has previously raced in the LMP1 and LMP2 class of the WEC, becoming the first Indian to start and complete the 24 Hours of Le Mans for privateer squad JRM in 2012.

His participation with Mahindra Racing had been expected when the team was getting close to announcing drivers in Mahindra Formula E, with even Narain Karthikeyan being considered to spearhead the team's campaign.

Reports in the Indian edition of Motorsport.com have suggested that the team is considering Antonio Felix da Costa, Adam Carroll, Giedo van der Garde and Giorgio Pantano to partner Bruno Senna for the new season that will start on October 17 in Beijing.