The Porsche Formula E squad of André Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein pushed hard in the final double-header round of the season to bring Porsche some serious points home to Stuttgart. Considering this race was kind of Porsche’s home race, having taken place merely a short 394 mile drive away from base. With two races going down at Tempelhof Airport circuit in Berlin, Porsche had to push hard to the finish and try to get some good results to hold them over until season eight begins in January.
ABB FIA Formula E Round 14 – Saturday
While Lotterer was already ineligible for the championship by points heading into the German round of the season, his teammate Wehrlein had a theoretical chance, albeit at a long shot. Lotterer didn’t qualify well, and was forced to take on the first round of the weekend from fourteenth place. He managed to keep his nose clean and push hard throughout the whole race to finish in tenth position to score a single championship point. Wehrlein had a better qualifying session than his teammate, but just nine laps into the race he made contact with a competitor and suffered a punctured tire and was forced to retire from the race.
Comments on the Berlin E-Prix, Race 14
Amiel Lindesay, Head of Operations Formula E: “Today wasn’t our day. We’d definitely expected more at our home race. But through no fault of their own, things didn’t go so well for our drivers. A competitor hit the rear of Pascal’s car and he had to pit for a tyre change. Although the crew did a good job and got him back on the track within the same lap, the gap to the top was still too big. André drove a solid race and made up several positions. Unluckily, the safety car was deployed during his attack mode, so he wasn’t able to use a large portion of his extra energy. All in all, that was a difficult day for us. We’ll analyse everything during the night to see what we can improve on for tomorrow.”
André Lotterer, Porsche works driver (#36): “That wasn’t an easy race. I got away well at the start but was held up in the traffic a bit. I managed to quickly regain my position and was really pleased with my car. But when the safety car came out on the track, I still had two minutes left in attack mode, and that obviously prevented me from catching the leaders and achieving an even better result. Tomorrow we’ll try to start the race further up the grid. Then a successful end of the season is possible, which the team definitely deserves.”
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#99): “The race actually started pretty well. My start was good. I was in attack mode when Oliver (Rowland) hit my car and damaged my left rear tyre. As a result, I had to pit and lost almost a lap. I couldn’t do a thing from this position. It’s a shame, but I have to now let that go. I’ll attack again at tomorrow’s final round of the season.”
ABB FIA Formula E Round 15 – Sunday
Saturday showed that Porsche had potential, but Sunday was when everything came good for the team. This time Lotterer started much higher up in 7th on the grid, while Wehrlein started in tenth. An accident at the start of the race took two title contenders out of the race altogether, and thankfully the Porsche boys managed to avoid any damage. When the race got back underway, following the red flag to clean up the wreck, there was yet another title contender hitting the wall. The two drivers plowed their way through the field on their way up the grid, ultimately fighting with the Mercedes drivers for position. Lotterer was hampered by the fact that he grabbed his Attack Mode just before a safety car, but managed to finish in fourth position after a strong run regardless. Wehrlein gained four positions throughout the race and had a tough battle with the Mercedes drivers to finish in sixth position.
Comments on the Berlin E-Prix, Race 15
Amiel Lindesay, Head of Operations Formula E: “We narrowly missed out on the Super Pole by five-thousandths of a second. André put in a strong drive. Still, we simply have to do better in qualifying so that we can convert our good racing performance into top results. We’ll keep working on that. The race itself went well. It’s a shame that the safety car came out during Andrè’s second attack mode. This meant he wasn’t able to use all of the additional energy, otherwise he could’ve gained another two positions. All in all, that was a good conclusion to the season today. We were able to create some positive momentum but at the end of the day we didn’t quite meet our expectations.”
André Lotterer, Porsche works driver (#36): “It’s always annoying to miss the podium by such a slim margin. Still, most of the time I was able to drive among the main group and I had to be careful that no one hit my car. My overtaking move at the end was pretty tight but it worked – it’s simply a shame that it was too late to go for the podium. The positive experiences of this season make us optimistic about the future.”
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#99): “That was a good race. Our car had a decent pace and I could make up several positions. It was a strong result for the team, even though we could’ve probably done better today. It’s a shame that the season is over. We’ve made great progress recently and we’ve regularly finished in the points, especially during the second half of the season. I’m already looking forward to next year.”