Berlin E-Prix: Lucas di Grassi wins but Jean-Eric Vergne keeps title lead
- Published
Formula E: Lucas di Grassi dominates to win Berlin E-Prix
Brazil's Lucas di Grassi won the Berlin E-Prix as Formula E Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne of France finished third.
Di Grassi claimed his first Berlin win, having finishing both second and third on two occasions, and trails Vergne by six points after moving up to second.
Sebastien Buemi was second, with Antonio Felix da Costa fourth.
British drivers Alexander Sims, Oliver Rowland and Sam Bird came seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.
"It was an amazing race, super tricky but we managed to do it and get the victory at home," said Di Grassi, driving for the Germany-based Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler team, who moved up from third in the race for the drivers' title.
"We've worked so hard, we managed to qualify well and everything went very good."
Vergne, the reigning Formula E champion, climbed from eighth to third in the race to extend his lead at the top of the drivers' championship by five points. He said: "It was a very good race and I have to thank the team.
"Yesterday I had a lot of problems and couldn't be fast, but the team did very well. To come from eighth to third was a lot of fun."
Vergne's DS Techeetah team-mate Andre Lotterer started the day second in the title race, one point behind Vergne, but a tactical error in qualifying when he failed to complete his fast lap in time saw him qualify 22nd.
The German got himself up to 11th but a battery issue late on saw him fail to finish the race.
There are full replays of the Berlin E-Prix available on the BBC Red Button on Sunday, 26 May - at 03:25, 05:25, 07:25 and 20:00 BST.
The series has its final European race of the campaign in Bern, Switzerland on 22 June before the season-ending double header in New York on 13-14 July.
How they finished in Berlin
Sam Bird's ninth-place finish was the first time he had gained any points in five races after he had been top of the championship earlier in the year
Drivers Championship standings
Jean-Eric Vergne has a six-point lead with three races of the season left