Guenther emerges from chaos to take second Formula E win

Max Guenther scored a home victory for himself and BMW at the third of Formula E’s six races at Berlin’s Tempelhof course after a close battle with Robin Frijns.

Da Costa’s Techeetah team mate Jean-Eric Vergne started from the front after a formidable lap put him half a second clear in the shoot-out. Vergne, frustrated after the first two Tempelhof races saw Da Costa pull out an impressive championship lead, started well and looked set to pull clear.

However a series of Safety Car periods neutralised his lead. A bizarre, low-speed collision created chaos. Dragon’s Sergio Sette Camara (substituting for Brendon Hartley) collided with the luckless James Calado, sending him into a spin. That in turn brought Sette Camara and Neel Jani (whose point-less run in Formula E seems set to continue) together and took both out of the race with badly damaged cars unable to continue.

Marshals then seemed to struggle to remove the cars on an awkwardly tight area of the track, and with cars still circulating behind the Safety Car it made for an extremely drawn out clear-up operation.

As per Formula E’s rule that 1kWh is removed from remaining usable energy on restart, drivers were reduced by 9kWh by the time racing returned. With so much saved, that still meant that racing could return at a relative sprint pace. Some particularly frantic action saw Stoffel Vandoorne, who had been on a good run and went into this race joint-second in the standings with Lucas di Grassi, sustain a puncture and retire.

The pack then stayed pretty much completely together, with cars tangling and Vergne unable to draw out any significant gains. Guenther, who had started in second and held on to his position, was able to stick to Vergne, harassing the Techeetah using the Attack Mode.

Vergne said after the race that his regeneration paddle seemed to stop working while he was in Attack Mode, leaving him struggling for energy compared to Guenther and unable to hold onto the lead, even after regaining it following his activation. With eight and a half minutes to go he was on 25%, while Guenther, inches behind him, was on 28% and eventually found a way past.

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Frijns, who had hung behind the leaders most of the race, was able to use an energy advantage for a last-gasp surge and pressed forwards to overtake Vergne and then nearly bag Guenther on the last corner, resulting in a drag race to the line.

Further back, Mitch Evans and Alex Sims finished ninth and tenth respectively, taking their first points of the Berlin finale. It might be very little comfort, having arrived at Tempelhof as close contenders to Da Costa and now on less than half his points total.

Da Costa now leads the championship on 137 points, to Guenther on 69. With 90 points still available in the remaining Berlin races, it seems unlikely that another driver will catch him the championship, unless tomorrow’s race brings a shock development.

Formula E

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• Da Costa disqualified from first Misano race, handing Rowland win
• Da Costa becomes sixth different winner in six rounds in first Misano race
• Aron and Eriksson to replace WEC-bound Buemi and Frijns at Envision in Berlin
• Guenther wins in Tokyo after Rowland gives up the lead