Reigning Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi believes that Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler had a "good advantage" over other rival teams at last weekend's Berlin E-Prix – an advantage that allowed the German marque to secure its first 1-2 finish as a manufacturer and only the second in the history of the all-electric championship.
In Berlin, Daniel Abt claimed pole position, fending off the best efforts of NIO Formula E's Oliver Turvey in qualifying to secure a further three points to his current tally while di Grassi made a mistake in his final qualifying run, pushing him down to fifth in the starting order.
Seeking his first win of the season in Berlin, di Grassi was punchy with his driving in the opening stint of the race, overtaking Dragon Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio, championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne and Turvey to move into second place in the running order, just behind his team-mate, Abt, who continued to lead.
In the pit stop phase, di Grassi was able to close in on Abt after the German driver suffered from a slow pit stop, leaving the gap at less than one second when the Audi pair rejoined the race for the final stint.
Despite closing in, di Grassi was unable to find a way around his team-mate and ultimately finished in second position after dropping back, unable to match Abt's dominant pace at the Flughafen Tempelhof circuit.
"First, congratulations to Daniel [Abt] – I think he deserved the win today, he drove fantastically with no mistakes," said di Grassi post-race.
"Second, I think the Audi car today had a good advantage over the others. We were super-fast, and we could only challenge each other.
"In the first stint, I managed to pass Jerome [d'Ambrosio], [Oliver] Turvey and JEV [Jean-Eric Vergne] and then opened up the gap to them before the pit stop."
Di Grassi pinned the 6.758s gap between himself and his team-mate when the chequered flag waved to a problem with his second car – an issue that will be investigated ahead of the Zurich E-Prix next month.
"After that we were very close and my second car had some problem that I have to analyse, but I was just happy to bring it home," he continued.
"The one-two is a dream come true for Audi after we started the year so badly and now we’ve recovered and are second in the team championship, and it was my fourth straight podium in a row – I can only be happy!”
Second place for di Grassi leaves the Brazilian driver in sixth place in the Drivers' Championship with 74 points while a Grand Slam for Abt in Berlin allowed the driver to bolster his position in the standings, with the driver overtaking his team-mate and Season Two champion Sebastien Buemi to now sit in fourth place, one point adrift of the struggling Felix Rosenqvist in third.
With there still being 141 points still available for collection in Season Four with three races remaining, Audi's 1-2 finish in Germany means that the manufacturer still has the chance of taking the Teams' Championship, 44 points adrift of Mark Preston's independent Techeetah squad.
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