The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team had an eventful weekend at the DHL Valencia E-Prix on 24 and 25 April 2021. They scored sixteen points in Round five and nine points for Round six, putting them fifth in the team standings, ahead of TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team and behind last year’s team champion DS Techeetah.
Round five of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship took place on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, in the rain, causing issues for many drivers on the grid. The energy management was difficult for some teams, like race leader Antonio Felix Da Costa (DS Techeetah) who lost the lead of the race with ten seconds plus one lap to go. The lessons were learned from Round five, and there was a lot more energy management from the teams in Round six.
“We knew that it would be tight, but not this tight. In the end, you needed clever engineers and also a bit of luck. We had that today. After the bad luck we had in Rome last time, we will take these points.” said Audi team boss Allan McNish.
Lucas Di Grassi, who started the race in the twenty-first position, finished the Saturday race in seventh place to score six points for the Audi Sport team and only scored one point on Sunday. Antonio Felix Da Costa, Alex Lynn (Mahindra Racing), and Sam Bird (Jaguar Racing) were disqualified after the race for failing to finish with enough energy in their cars.
René Rast, the other Audi Sport driver, scored ten points for his team on Saturday and eight on Sunday, giving him a good haul of points for the driver’s championship. The German driver is now sixth, ahead of two-time Formula E champion Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Techeetah).
“The podium would definitely have been possible today,” said Rast on Sunday. “But then, André Lotterer kicked up an advertising banner directly in front of me, which got stuck on my car. From that moment on, I had no more pace. That was extremely unlucky.”
Round seven of the Formula E championship will take place in Monaco, on Saturday 8 May 2021 on the full Circuit de Monaco track.
