Daniel Abt has hailed his "super special" victory at last weekend's Berlin E-Prix where the driver became the first in the history of Formula E to take a Grand Slam through pole position, fastest lap and the race win.
In qualifying, Abt put in an impressive performance to take pole position, beating NIO Formula E's Oliver Turvey to the top spot by 0.263s before continuing his weekend-long domination in the race, cruising to victory at the Flughafen Tempelhof circuit for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler.
When the lights went out, Abt led into Turn 1, holding off any attempted attacks from Turvey before extending his lead at the front of the pack by setting multiple fastest laps.
Pitting on lap 23 for Formula E's mandatory mid-race car switch, Abt had his lead shortened after being compromised by the Jaguar Racing car of Nelson Piquet Jr.
This allowed Lucas di Grassi, who was now second, to close in on his team-mate, with the race win now within an arm's length for the Brazilian driver.
Despite showing pace throughout the weekend in Berlin, di Grassi was unable to hunt down Abt when searching for his first win of Season Four and instead settled for second place, with Abt taking the chequered flag with a 6.758s advantage to secure his second victory of the 2017/18 season.
“It’s super special," said a delighted Abt post-race in Berlin.
"I keep saying I have these weeks where I just feel like good stuff is going to happen and I had this feeling here in my home round.
"There is so much positive energy from everyone around, from the fans to the staff. I felt confident today all of a sudden, in qualifying there was not much more in it and was spot on and from then on, I knew we could win it."
With di Grassi securing second place, it was a momentous day for the Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler squad, with the result on home soil marking the team's first 1-2 finish in Formula E and only the second time in the series' short history that such a feat has been achieved.
"To get a one-two with Lucas [di Grassi] was so special for Audi, for everyone and the team,” added Abt.
A dominant weekend in Germany has propelled Abt into fourth place in the Drivers' Championship, with the driver now sitting two points behind Felix Rosenqvist, who failed to secure a top 10 finish in Berlin.
After a difficult start to Season Four, Audi sits in second in the Teams' Championship, only 47 points adrift of independent squad Techeetah, which continues to lead with three races remaining.
Discussion about this post