source: Audi Sport
- Daniel Abt scores first podium of the season for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler
- First victory for Audi customer team Envision Virgin Racing
- 37 degrees Celsius (98.6F): the hottest race in Formula E history
In the hottest ever Formula E race, title defender Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler has claimed its first podium of the season in Santiago de Chile. Sam Bird from the Audi customer team Envision Virgin Racing pocketed the first victory of the Audi e-tron FE05.
Taking up the race from the third grid spot, teammate Daniel Abt secured third place in scorching temperatures of up to 37 degrees Celsius in the shade at the wheel of his Audi e-tron FE05, and thus the first podium for the title defenders Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in the 2018/2019 ABB FIA Formula E Championship season. Abt also earned the extra point for the fastest race lap.
“That was an incredibly tough race,” said Abt. “It was extremely hot out there. But sometimes you just have to stay cool, and that’s what we did today. This first podium of the season is really important for our team. Our squad works hard and more than deserves this result. We’ve underlined that we’re making progress and are on the right track. And we’ll continue to fight.”
Due to a rule infraction during the in-lap of the previous group qualifying, Lucas di Grassi was relegated from pole position to start from the back of the grid. In the race, the Brazilian fought his way up the field from twenty-second position on the grid into ninth place, only to receive a time penalty as a result of a collision, which threw him back to twelfth.
“Today we saw many drivers making mistakes in very tough conditions,” said Allan McNish, Team Principal of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler. “I’m very proud of Daniel (Abt). After a strong qualifying performance under difficult conditions, he drove a clean race from start to finish and brought home the first podium result of the season for our team. A superb job! Lucas (di Grassi) had to fight his way back up from the very back of the field after his problem in qualifying and unfortunately didn’t score any points this time.”
Schedule Formula E 2017/2018
15/12 Ad Diriyah (SA)
12/01 Marrakesh (MA)
26/01 Santiago (RCH)
16/02 Mexico City (MEX)
10/03 Hongkong (HK)
23/03 Sanya (CHN)
13/04 Rome (I)
27/04 Paris (F)
11/05 Monaco (MC)
25/05 Berlin (D)
22/06 Bern (CH)
13/07 New York (USA)
14/07 New York (USA)
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