Overcoming the difficulties they had in the last venues in Rome and Monaco, ROKiT Venturi Racing tasted victory in the first part of the 2022 Berlin E-Prix when Edoardo Mortara triumphed at the Tempelhof Circuit after starting from pole position.
By defeating the Mahindra driver Alexander Sims by 0.137 seconds, Edo had secured his first pole position in Formula E and ROKiT Venturi Racing’s first since the 2015 London E-Prix.
When the race got underway, Edo obtained a strong getaway from the front row to lead into Turn One while Lucas di Grassi slipped to 14th before making progress back through the field.
Edo maintained the lead at the head of the field and activated his first Attack Mode with 22 minutes remaining to fall to second before repassing Lotterer one lap later. After running as high as eighth, a slow puncture forced Lucas to pit and later retire from the race to leave Edo as ROKiT Venturi Racing’s sole challenger.
Opting to overcut Stoffel Vandoorne and André Lotterer on race strategy, Edo repassed the pair with only seven minutes remaining after activating Attack Mode for the final time.
Despite facing pressure from behind, the Swiss-Italian defended his lead to extend his advantage to 1.787 seconds in the closing laps to take his fourth Formula E victory and second of the season.
By scoring 28 points, Edo improved to fourth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 77 points while ROKiT Venturi Racing advanced to third in the Teams’ Standings on 114 points.
Second Race of the Double-Header
After having tasted victory in Race One, the Monegasque marque continued to show promise on Sunday morning by topping both practice sessions in the German capital.
Edo cemented his place in qualifying and vanquished Robin Frijns by 0.498 seconds to secure a second consecutive pole position and three points.
At the start of the race, Edo successfully defended from fellow front row starter Frijns but slipped to second following a diving move from De Vries into Turn One. Lucas, meanwhile, made steady progress from the third row (having qualified sixth) by immediately moving into the top five, overtaking Antonio Felix da Costa.
As the race progressed and strategy evolved, Edo regained the lead and Lucas moved into third when De Vries and André Lotterer and Frijns activated Attack Mode with 34 minutes remaining.
The Venturi duo fell to fifth and sixth upon activating their sole Attack Mode of the E-Prix in the 16th minute.
Edo and Lucas then carved through the field, clearing Lotterer, Stoffel Vandoorne and da Costa to hold second and third.
Despite posting the fastest lap of the race, Edo was unable to close in on and pass De Vries but secured second place when the chequered flag waved in the German capital.
In the closing moments, Lucas unfortunately lost track position to Vandoorne and finished fourth overall to score 12 points. With this result, Edo Mortara advanced to second in the World Drivers’ Championship while, by scoring a total of 62 points in one weekend, ROKiT Venturi Racing moved to second in the Teams’ Standings, now holding 148 points from eight races.
Formula E’s Season 8 campaign will resume on 4 June, 2022, for the inaugural Jakarta E-Prix in Indonesia.
