OLIVER Rowland is hoping to build on his best ever season and compete for the Formula E title in the 2024/25 series which begins this weekend in Brazil.

The 31-year-old from Penistone enjoyed an impressive first season back with Nissan after a spell with Mahindra.

He finished on the podium seven times, one more than in his previous seven campaigns combined, while taking two of his three career race wins.

That put him fourth in the overall individual standings, which he is hoping to better in this year’s 16-race calendar which begins on Saturday in São Paulo.

Rowland told the Chronicle: “Winning the title has to be the target, I guess.

“It’s an extremely competitive championship and going in with that expectation is probably the wrong mentality.

“But I genuinely believe, if we get everything right, I could be challenging for first place at the end of the season.

“There is quite a lot of work to do to optimise our package and make sure we are reliable throughout the season.

“I wouldn’t say we are 100 per cent ready for the first race but we will see where every team is.

“In my first season back no one expected us to do as well as we did.

“It was really good and I can take a lot of confidence from it.

“If we can improve small aspects, I am sure we can be right up there.”

Barnsley FC fan Rowland is following Darrell Clarke’s side this season from afar. Before the midweek game in Wrexham, he said: “I am keeping an eye on them. They seem to be doing relatively well. I am hoping that they can finally get back up into Championship.”

Rowland and his young family moved from the UK to Dubai in July.

“While my daughter is still young we wanted to experience living somewhere else. It’s been quite enjoyable so far.

“We’re back at Christmas to see family.”

Rowland has been in Brazil since Saturday. He said: “It’s a cool place and the track is tricky. It’s bumpy and heavy-braking. It’s a short track and I expect qualifying to be super-tight.

“It’s not my favourite but we have to make the best of it. We got a podium here last year so we will be confident.

“I didn’t get any points from the first two races last season so hopefully I can improve on that.”

Formula E is global motorsport championship for electric cars.

The series will run until next summer with stops in Mexico City, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Miami, Monaco, Tokyo, Shanghai, Jakarta in Indonesia, Berlin and London.