2023-04-23

ABT CUPRA scores first points at home race in Berlin

Spectacular performance in front of the home crowd: Robin Frijns and Nico Müller scored the first points of the season at the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s appearance in Berlin. The team even managed a minor sensation in qualifying on Sunday when Frijns and Müller locked out the first row of the grid. In the race, Müller then achieved his first top ten result this year with ninth place. On Saturday, the team had remained without points.

“We took a big step forward this weekend. The success in qualifying and the clean race into the top ten on Sunday are a nice reward and additional motivation for the whole team after months of hard work,” says Team Principal Thomas Biermaier. “Of course, the wet conditions played into our cards in qualifying and made this surprising result possible. In the race, however, we noticed that we don’t yet have the necessary pace in normal conditions. Nevertheless, we’re taking some positive aspects with us from Berlin for the next races.”

In front of an impressive backdrop at the former Tempelhof Airport, including more than 1,000 guests of partner CUPRA, Robin Frijns had sensationally taken pole position and his teammate Nico Müller second on the grid. After the track had dried by the time of the race, the backlog in development of the customer team again became more obvious. Nevertheless, both ABT drivers battled in the leading group for a long time before being classified in positions 9 and 17 at the finish.

“We had a pretty difficult Saturday, where we finished way back after a tough qualifying session, but Sunday was a completely different story: pole position, front row of the grid and a race in which we were able to fight for a long time,” says Robin Frijns, who was awarded three points for his first place on the grid and was also presented with the “Heineken 0.0 Keep Cool Award” by the fans. “Those were great emotional moments in the car and in the garage and gave us even more motivation not to give up and to continue right there in Monaco – maybe we’ll have a bit of luck with the weather there too ...”

“This weekend was a bit of a rollercoaster ride of emotions: a tough Saturday was followed by a Sunday with a place on the front row of the grid and points in the race,” says Nico Müller, who narrowly lost out to his teammate in the final of the duel-style qualifying session. “It was nice and emotional to see the happy faces in the team when Robin and I came back into the pits after the successful qualifying. We knew the race was going to be tough, but we still made the best of it.”

In just two weeks, Formula E continues with one of the next season highlights: On 6 May, ABT CUPRA will compete in the World Championship race on the famous Monaco street circuit.