In what is their strongest season on record, DS Virgin Racing heads to the Berlin E-Prix looking to maintain its current momentum as Season Four of the FIA ABB Formula E Championship begins to wind down towards the final races of the current campaign.
After eight races, the DS Virgin Racing squad sit in second place in the Teams' Championship, 55 points adrift of independent outfit Techeetah who currently lead while Sam Bird sits in second place in the Drivers' Standings, 31 points behind Jean-Eric Vergne.
Carrying high momentum after a third-place podium finish through the efforts of Bird at last month's Paris E-Prix, the British marque is once again predicting a strong showing of performance in Germany where the hard-to-master Flughafen Tempelhof circuit will be the backdrop for the ninth round of the 2017/18 season.
“I’m really looking forward to the Berlin race. The championship is nearing its closing stages, so we know every point is vital," said second-placed man Bird who aims to bolster his position in the championship this weekend.
"I’m certainly not thinking about the title at this stage and will just approach this race like I would any other. Hopefully we can get another strong result for me and the team.”
After a slump in performance in recent races, Alex Lynn is looking to return to the points as his rookie campaign in the all-electric single seater series continues:
"We’ve had a couple of frustrating results recently, but we know the pace is there and we’ve been working hard in the simulator to prepare ourselves for the event which will be another new track for me," he said.
"The team and I are feeling confident and hopefully we can come away with some good points.”
With the Berlin E-Prix being the latest round in a season that has been packed full of strong results for DS Virgin Racing, with Bird claiming victory in Hong Kong and at the inaugural Rome E-Prix, DS Performance Director Xavier Mestelan Pinon expects nothing but victory in the German capital:
“After the strong performance the team has achieved with our DSV-03 since the beginning of the season, the target in Berlin is definitely the victory," he said.
"Last year, both cars were in Superpole on the Saturday and the Sunday. We have worked a lot on the simulator to get ready to deliver the best possible performance.”
