After the sun-drenched luxury of Monaco Formula E is heading north. The German capital is hosting a motor race for the first time since the end of the last century – and what’s more it’s electric! It’s a far cry from the death-defying feats of Fangio, Moss, Brooks,etc. on the Avusrennen with its two never-ending straights. Thus, e-dams-Renault, currently leading the teams’ classification, is taking up another challenge at the airport on which the circuit is laid out, where the French team is determined to add to its great result in the Principality.
The special feature of this fledgling championship is that at each meeting the drivers have to master a new, different circuit. However current technology helps to mitigate this handicap as Nicolas Prost explains: “We’ve done a lot of work on the simulator. In my opinion the circuit is more like Miami than Monaco. Even if nothing replaces the reality it’s a good base. I certainly hope so, as it’ll help me to make up for my average weekend in Monaco even if I scored good points. This time I’m aiming for a place on the front row and I want to fight for victory. And it’ll be great discovering Berlin!” Sébastien Buemi has already walked the streets of the German capital: “That was seven or eight years ago. I was there as a tourist and I visited all the historic places like the Brandenbourg gate, etc.” To get down to the nitty-gritty, Buemi has also familiarised himself with the circuit in a simulator and he’s drawn a few conclusions. “We’re going to be racing on runways, concrete slabs in fact, and that’s going to make the cars jump around. There are a lot of corners including several slow ones which will provide overtaking opportunities. Overall, I think the gaps in qualifying will be a bit bigger than in Monaco and that pole position won’t be quite so crucial. Of course, I’m going there to win and to reinforce the team’s position in the championship.” This weekend e-dams-Renault, which has built up a substantial lead in the teams’ classification, will be visiting the home turf of one of their toughest rivals, Abt-Audi. So that means a no-holds-barred battle in perspective! To hope to win it the squad from Ruaudin will count on the talent of their drivers and also on their big-occasion experience: in other words they are ready to scale the wall!
FanBoost
Virgilia Landrain (marketing manager): “Unlike Monaco there are several places on the Berlin circuit where overtaking will be possible so the fan boost will be very important in this context. Even if e-dams-Renault leads the championship Nicolas and Sébastien will do everything they can to defend their positions as we’re getting close to the end. So a fan boost will be very useful for them. Thank you for your vote!”
Classifications before Berlin
Drivers’ Championship. 1. Di Grassi (Audi-Abt), 93 points ; 2. Piquet (China Racing), 89 ; 3. Buemi, 83 points ; 4. Prost, 77.
Teams’ championship. 1. e.dams-Renault, 160 points ; 2. Abt-Audi, 115 ; 3. Virgin, 94.
