Edoardo Mortara came within 0.141 seconds of a second victory of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season on Saturday, but the Swiss racer was forced to concede the win to Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi.
The ROKiT Venturi Racing driver led midway through the race at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit after capitalising on his attack mode, but he was unable to hold off di Grassi when the Brazilian took his own attack mode a little bit later than the Swiss racer.
Mortara kept the former Formula E champion honest until the chequered flag, but he was unable to find a way back ahead of di Grassi. However, the podium finish moves him up to second place in the Drivers’ Championship, just three points behind leader Nyck de Vries.
“Heading into this weekend, being in championship contention on Sunday was the always the goal and because of today’s result, we’re now in that position,” said Mortara. “P2 is a great result not only for me but also the team and we’ve continued to show just how strong our race pace can be this season.
“Going into the final laps, I knew that it was going to be difficult to overtake Lucas [di Grassi]. I tried to put him under pressure, but unfortunately he didn’t put a foot wrong.”
Mortara says it is important for him to remain calm heading into Sunday’s final race of the season, with the Swiss racer aware that there is a lot of work to do to prepare themselves for the reverse layout race in Berlin.
“Even though we’re on the podium, we have to stay quite grounded and we can’t be too happy because we still have a lot of work to do and tomorrow, we fight for the World Championship,” said Mortara.
“Hopefully, by the end of Sunday, we can celebrate a bit more.”
