Piquet Jr takes the lead of the FIA Formula E Championship in Berlin
Piquet was announced ahead of the race as the FanBoost winner for the third time.
Two weeks after scoring a podium at the Monaco ePrix, Nelson Piquet Jr took the overall lead of the FIA Formula E Championship after a hard-fought fourth place finish at the Berlin ePrix.
Driving for NEXTEV Team China Racing, Piquet headed into the Berlin weekend just four points behind current championship leader Lucas di Grassi. He suffered a tricky qualifying draw and session, and was forced to start the race from the seventh row in 13th position. Piquet was announced ahead of the race as the FanBoost winner for the third time, which would give him a five second boost of power in each of the two cars he would drive in the race.
The final result obviously helps us in the championship but we were already very competitive...
Nelson Piquet Jr
He made great progress in the 33-lap race, moving up eight places overall to cross the line in fifth. However, after the race, ABT’s Lucas di Grassi was disqualified from the race results due to technical infringements on his ABT car, promoting Nelson to fourth place, a result which saw the Brazilian surge into the lead of the championship with 103 points. Sebastien Buemi is second on 101 points, and di Grassi is now in third with 93 points.
There are three races remaining in the season, with the Moscow ePrix next on the calendar, taking place on 6 June. London then forms a double header on 27-28 June.
Nelson Piquet Jr: “Regardless of what happened to di Grassi after the race, we worked really hard and fought all the way to the front from 13th on the grid. The final result obviously helps us in the championship but we were already very competitive and it hasn’t happened by accident that we are leading the championship. I am really proud of the team, we never give up and in Moscow we’re going to be even stronger.”
Nelson Piquet Jr.
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