Berlin E-Prix: di Grassi dominates at Audi's homeground
Lucas di Grassi took a home victory for Audi - and his second of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E season - in the Berlin E-Prix on Saturday.
Di Grassi's race-winning move came early on when he dived down the inside of polesitter Sebastien Buemi at the sweeping bend of Turn 6 on the third lap.
The Audi driver then built a gap of over a second to secure back-to-back wins for Audi in Berlin, ahead of Buemi.
Buemi was put under varying degrees of pressure throughout the race and was demoted to third behind BMW Andretti's Antonio Felix da Costa until the Nissan driver breezed back into second with the use of fanboost around the mid-distance mark.
Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne finished third behind Buemi after a late charge through the field, aided by the efficiency of the DS Techeetah package.
Vergne started eighth on the grid but not long after da Costa and Buemi's battle, scythed his way through the field with moves on Daniel Abt, Stoffel Vandoorne and da Costa helping to seal the position.
Da Costa would eventually take fourth ahead of Vandoorne and Abt.
Vandoorne and Abt's battle ran for the majority of the race, with the Audi driver's late final use of attack mode putting the HWA driver under pressure.
Alexander Sims had made it into superpole at Berlin but started 11th following his five-place grid penalty earned in Monaco.
The BMW driver made steady progress to climb into seventh ahead of Oliver Rowland and clear of a frenetic battle for the final points-paying positions.
Oliver Rowland took eighth but was warned for a move on Mahindra Racing's Pascal Wehrlein after nudging the ex-Formula 1 driver into the outside wall during his overtake.
Wehrlein would finish 10th behind Envision Virgin Racing's Sam Bird.
HWA's Gary Paffett had secured fourth on the grid in Berlin but progressively fell through the field to finish a disappointing 16th.
Andre Lotterer headed into the race one point behind teammate and championship leader Vergne but suffered a setback when he pulled into the pits with a suspected battery problem.
Jaguar's Alex Lynn was the only other driver to retire from the race when he reported a rear-axle problem that brought him to a halt on the start/finish line and caused a short full-course yellow period.
Lynn had been impressive early in the race as he battled his way into an early third place over Vandoorne, and also earned a warning for an early clash with Paffett.
Race results:
| Cla | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lucas di Grassi | Team Abt | |
| 2 |  Sébastien Buemi | Nissan e.dams | 1.856 |
| 3 |  Jean-Eric Vergne | Techeetah | 2.522 |
| 4 |  Antonio Felix da Costa | Andretti Autosport | 5.845 |
| 5 |  Stoffel Vandoorne | HWA AG | 6.336 |
| 6 |  Daniel Abt | Team Abt | 6.551 |
| 7 |  Alexander Sims | Andretti Autosport | 8.235 |
| 8 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.dams | 10.781 |
| 9 | Sam Bird | Virgin Racing | 13.153 |
| 10 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mahindra Racing | 14.846 |
| 11 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | 15.377 |
| 12 |  Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | 17.688 |
| 13 |  Robin Frijns | Virgin Racing | 21.197 |
| 14 | Maximilian Gunther | Dragon Racing | 26.154 |
| 15 | Felipe Massa | Venturi | 26.684 |
| 16 | Gary Paffett | HWA AG | 27.718 |
| 17 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Mahindra Racing | 27.729 |
| 18 | Oliver Turvey | NIO Formula E Team | 32.117 |
| 19 | Tom Dillmann | NIO Formula E Team | 33.706 |
| 20 |  Jose Maria Lopez | Dragon Racing | 46.895 |
| Andre Lotterer | Techeetah | 9 Laps | |
| Alex Lynn | Jaguar Racing | 14 Laps | |
| View full results | |||
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About this article
| Series | Formula E |
| Event | Berlin E-prix |
| Author | Tom Errington |
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