Closed Circuit: ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport in Paris

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ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport’s Lucas di Grassi made history at the first ever Paris ePrix: he became the first driver in series history to win back to back races. Team-mate Daniel Abt showed impressive battery management skills, but after a late safety car these ultimately went unrewarded.

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The German squad came into this race off the back of a 1-3 finish in Long Beach, and championship leader Lucas di Grassi picked up where he left off, qualifying in P2 – crucially six places ahead of title rival Sebastien Buemi. Team-mate Daniel Abt struggled in qualifying and lined up P14 on the grid. At the start, di Grassi got a better start than poleman Sam Bird and was able to take the lead going into turn 1. He would not relinquish the lead after that, except for pit stops, and won the race behind the safety car after a late crash for Ma Qing Hua. Abt, meanwhile, showed fantastic battery management skills to eke out two more laps than the majority of the field, putting him in a strong position for the closing stint. However, the late safety car robbed him of the chance to use the extra energy he had saved up, and he crossed the line in P10.

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[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Hans-Jürgen Abt: “Paris showed everybody what Formula E is all about: emotions, a unique location and enthusiastic people. Congratulations to everybody who made all this possible.”[/pullquote]

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In Formula E’s short history, no driver had ever won two races in a row. Until now. And when you consider that di Grassi was excluded in Mexico City for a technical infringement after crossing the line in first place, he has actually stood on the top step of the podium in the last three races. Pivotal to his success in Paris was his qualifying, where he split the DS Virgin Racing cars and put his car in P2. This was his second consecutive front row start and allowed him to leapfrog Sam Bird into the lead off the start. From there he drove a classic di Grassi race – consistent and smart. A strong pit stop by his team (only d’Ambrosio and team-mate Abt had quicker stops) enabled him to maintain the lead right until the end.

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Best time in FP1: 1:02.981 (P2)

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Best time in FP2: 1:01.621 (P4)

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Best time in qualifying: 1:01.932 (P2 in Superpole)

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Best time in the race: 1:02.911 (Lap 28)

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Pit stop time and difference to minimum pit stop time: 1:07.075 (1.075 above minimum time)

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[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The fans, the atmosphere, the location – all in all this race in Paris was the best Formula E event so far. That makes me even prouder of our victory. It may well have looked easy from the outside, but it certainly wasn’t from inside the cockpit: in the low temperatures it was difficult to get the tires and brakes up to temperature – as we saw from the large number of mistakes and slides throughout the day. Now we come to the team’s home race in Berlin as leaders. I know what this means for all the team members, partners, fans and the media.” [/pullquote]

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The race in Paris was a case of what might have been for the young German driver. He was only able to qualify in P14, and says he and the team will look closely to identify the cause before their home race in Berlin next time out. In the race, he moved up to P12 right off the start, then gained a further position on Nelson Piquet Jr before expertly staying out two laps longer than the majority of the field, showing extra battery management. He stopped on lap 25, emerging from the pits in tenth place. After a battle with Bruno Senna, he settled into P10 and would have hoped to use his extra energy in the closing stages of the race. However the late safety car robbed him of this chance, and he ultimately collected a solitary point for a P10 finish.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Lap chart” tab_id=”1461512548457-fc72c98b-1a61cd8a-a22a”][vc_line_chart type=”line” x_values=”Starting position; 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43;44; 45″ values=”%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22Daniel%20Abt%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%2214%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B12%3B11%3B11%3B11%3B11%3B11%3B11%3B11%3B11%3B9%3B1%3B1%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%3B10%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22green%22%7D%5D” title=”Daniel Abt: lap chart”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”The race in numbers” tab_id=”1461512549057-0abe4d02-33bccd8a-a22a”][vc_column_text]

Best time in FP1: 1:03.474 (P7)

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Best time in FP2: 1:02.143 (P10)

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Best time in qualifying: 1:03.081 (P14)

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Best time in the race: 1:02.851 (Lap 33)

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Pit stop time and difference to minimum pit stop time: 1:07.023 (1.023 above minimum time)

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[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Obviously not what I expected. Now we’ll look closely to see what the cause was, and then attack at the front again in Berlin. We know that we have the package for this.” [/pullquote]

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Laurence Thorn | e-racing.net

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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