Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler head into this weekend’s fifth race of the 2018-19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship with good reason to be happy.
Lucas di Grassi‘s last-moment win in Mexico City saw his campaign take a turn for the better, as he elevated himself to fourth in the drivers’ standings.
His performance will had given the season three champion plenty to smile about, as he hopes to become the first repeat winner of season five in the 2019 Hong Kong E-Prix.
“The whole team worked hard over the last few months. Now that’s paying off, because we’re in contention again for trophies and victories – like most recently in Mexico,” says di Grassi.
“We need to take this momentum to Hong Kong. Race after race, we’re seeing how unpredictable Formula E is. We’re not going to budge an inch and give our all again. As always, we’re shooting for the biggest possible trophy.”
Team-mate Daniel Abt will have last season’s Hong Kong E-Prix second race disqualification on the back his mind, when the German won on the track before being thrown out of the results for a technical infringement.
He currently sits eleventh in the standings with twenty-two points but is confident that he can achieve victory on Sunday to throw him back into championship contention.
“I’ve still got twenty-five points lying around in Hong Kong that I’d like to pick up this time,” Abt mentioned.
“I think the track is cool and the atmosphere with the fans is fantastic, too. Lucas and I have always been pretty strong there and now that we’ve overcome our somewhat bumpy start to the season, we’re planning to attack.
“Qualifying will play an important part, because overtaking in Hong Kong is difficult – but we’ve said that before at other races as well, only to find out otherwise.”
Audi are fifth in the teams’ standings but are twenty-seven points off the top. Team Principal Allan McNish believes however the team has to remain focus on a “totally different” circuit.
“Needless to say, we intend to take the emotions and positive momentum from Lucas’ last-second victory in Mexico with us. Even so, everything will be reset to zero in Hong Kong, because the track’s character is totally different to the one in Mexico,” McNish added.
“I’m particularly excited to see Daniel (Abt), who has always done well in Hong Kong and, after his victory was taken away last time, he still has a score to settle there.
“From a team perspective, we’d obviously like to make our 50th race a special one. With the win in Mexico and Daniel’s podium in Santiago, we’re headed in the right direction.”