After a successful start to season 3, Mahindra Racing managed to finally win its maiden race in the Formula E series at the Tempelhofring circuit in Berlin, Germany. Mahindra driver Felix Rosenqvist won the first of two Berlin ePrix races on Saturday, starting from third place and moved up to take his first ever win for the team, passing Jose Maria Lopez (DS Virgin Racing) and Lucas di Grassi of ABT Schaeffler Audi. Meanwhile, reigning champion Sebastian Buemi of Renault eDams was disqualified from the race despite finishing fifth, due to his tyres being under pressure.
undefinedFinally,I remember the day @MainiChetan you came to my office and recommended we join @FIAformulaE Thank you, Chetan. I haven't forgotten
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 10, 2017
In first of the two races in Germany this weekend, Rosenqvist surged past pole sitter Lucas di Grassi just before the mid-race car swap, before pulling away from the Brazilian in the latter stages. The race saw one of the most intense qualifying races in Formula E with di Grassi managing to bag the pole with a 0.001 lead over Maria Lopez, while Rosenqvist was in third place with a gap of 0.083 over the pole.
Starting from the third place, Rosenqvist moved to second place after Maria Lopez had a slow start and went off line. Meanwhile, Lucas di Grassi was struggling with battery heating issues through the race, which gravely affected his performance. The battery issue also made braking and regeneration hard for the Brazilian, which allowed Rosenqvist to catch up. The Swedish driver used his extra energy he had saved to pass the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver before pit stops and gained the much sought after lead in the race. Thereafter, there was no looking back for the Swede as he managed to bag the eventual win.
Felix: "The team gave me such a great car I don't even feel exhausted! Nothing went wrong, I was able to enjoy the whole race."
