Daniel Abt and Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler dominated the Berlin ePrix as the German manufacturer finally fulfilled the promise they’d shown in pre-season testing.
Cheered on by a stand of Audi supporters both drivers pulled away from the rest of the field to take what will go down as one of the most comfortable victories in the history of the sport.
It was Abt who shone brightest though, not only grabbing pole position but pulling out an impressive gap on his world champion team-mate Lucas di Grassi twice after his original lead was wiped out after he was held up at his pit stop.
It was a welcome win for Audi after their pre-season pace showed that they would be the team to beat, only for them to suffer from pace and reliability issues in the first half of the season.
Finishing twelve seconds behind Abt was Jean-Eric Vergne, who after a tough battle with Sebastien Buemi claimed the last podium slot and took another big step towards winning his first driver’s title.
It was a cautious race for the Frenchman early on as he seemed to give up several places without much of a fight.
This changed after the pit stops though as a firm but fair move on Buemi helped him claim another trophy and what will surely be the title in a few months’ time.
He was helped further by DS Virgin Racing’s poor pace which meant that his nearest challenger Sam Bird could only finish in seventh, meaning the gap at the top now stands at forty points.
Buemi finished in fourth with Oliver Turvey dropping back towards the end of the race to finish fifth after he had run as high as second early on.
Mitch Evans drove well through the field again to grab sixth, with a German trio of Maro Engel, Andre Lotterer and Nick Heidfeld recovering well after a poor qualifying to finish off the points scoring positions.
It was a remarkable finish for Lotterer who after starting at the back of the grid was still as far down as eighteenth with just a few laps left.
He scythed through the field in the last couple of laps though to take an unlikely ninth place.
Felix Rosenqvist made a huge error at the start of the race that effectively ended his title hopes, and the Swede could only recover to eleventh as Mahindra Racing again seemed to lack pace.
Further back it was a disappointing finish for Dragon Racing as Jose Maria Lopez and Jerome d’Ambrosio gave up points finishes in the last laps as they ran close to their energy limits.
The only driver that they beat was Stephane Sarrazin who had a debut to forget for the MS&AD Andretti team.
