2020 Berlin ePrix III R8: Narrow victory for BMW's Max Gunther over Robin Frijns
After two back-to-back episodes of sheer dominance by DS Techeetah's Antonio Felix Da Costa (#13), the third race of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E championship finale witnessed some nail-biting action as BMW's Max Gunther (#28) emerged victorious in one of the closest finishes in Formula E history.
By Divyank K. Bansal
German racer Maximilian Gunther (BMW i Andretti Motorsport) proved himself on his home turf as he successfully converted his second-place start into a stellar albeit close race victory over Envision Virgin Racing's Robin Frijns. This is Gunther's second race victory of the season, after the Santiago ePrix.
After two back-to-back episodes of sheer dominance by DS Techeetah's Antonio Felix Da Costa (#13), the third race of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E championship finale, at the Berlin Tempelhof, witnessed some nail-biting action as BMW's Max Gunther (#28) emerged victorious (+25 points) in one of the closest finishes in Formula E history.
Behind Gunther by only half a car's length, Envision Virgin Racing driver Robin Frijns (#4) took home some valuable points as he crossed the chequered flag in second place (+18 points). While Gunther had started the race from second place, Frijn's result seems more impressive, given the fact that he started from sixth-place (P6 in Superpole) to finish second.
Current championship leader Da Costa was pipped by his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne (#25) this time, with the latter joining Gunther and Frijns on the podium (15+4 points for Vergne). This is a welcome change for Vergne as he'd only scored a single point in the previous two races. This time, he gets four additional points for topping both qualifying & Superpole sessions. Da Costa, meanwhile, continues to dominate the leaderboard after his fourth-place finish in the third race of the Berlin ePrix finale.
Race three in Berlin started on a really strong note for Mahindra Racing as well, with both drivers Jerome d'Ambrosio (#64) and Alex Lynn (#94) making it to the Superpole session to secure third and fifth places on the grid, respectively. However, strategic errors during the race meant only a seventh-place finish for d'Ambrosio. Teammate Lynn, on the other hand, lacked the pace and therefore, crossed the finish line in 17th place.
At the mid-way point in the Berlin championship finale, DS Techeetah's Da Costa sits atop the leaderboard with a comfortable lead of 68 points over Max Gunther (#28), who has shot up from ninth on the leaderboard to second after a single race! Gunther has 69 points under his belt. Eight points behind, Audi's Lucas Di Grassi (#11) sits in third place, with 61 points.
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2020 Berlin ePrix II R7 - Da Costa scores third consecutive Formula E victory
