Di Grassi triumphs in Berlin Race 1

Lucas di Grassi clinched his second win of the season in the first round of the Berlin E-Prix.

In a hard fought race, which had no clear winner until the last seconds, the Audi driver took victory and got some important championship points in the bag. 

The Brazilian had started the race from third position on the grid and was able to maintain himself on the hunt behind the Techeetah duo of Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa. As the cars ahead of him started going for their Attack Modes, di Grassi was able to move up to the lead.

Once at the front of the race, the Season 3 champion was challenged by Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara. The Swiss driver was able to pass di Grassi when the Season 3 champion activated his Attack Mode but the Audi driver ultimately took back the lead, and crossed the finish line in first position.

With a second-place finish, Mortara has moved now to second place in the championship, three points behind Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries.

Mitch Evans finished third. The Kiwi driver had a very strong pace which allowed him to climb up the ranks and score a podium finish to extend Jaguar’s lead in the Teams’ Championship. Teammate Sam Bird finished point-less, as he had to retire from the race when his car stopped on track although is one of 14 drivers who remains in championship contention heading into Sunday’s finale.

It was a strong day for Venturi as their other driver, Norman Nato, finished in fourth place. Behind him came Jake Dennis, who had dominated the free practice sessions prior to the race. The Brit is now third in the championship standings.

Both Techeetah drivers had a dominant start of the race, where the Frenchman comfortably led while his teammate remained rather unchallenged running in second place. However, they lost their leading positions towards the second half of the race. Vergne finished sixth and da Costa in seventh place.

The top 10 was completed by Maximilian Guenther, Rene Rast, and Andre Lotterer.

de Vries, who still stands as the Drivers’ Championship leader, retired from the race, meaning he could not extend his lead but retains it thanks to the results at the front of the field.