The winner’s trophy as the finest souvenir from Montreal, congratulations by the mayor, emotional speeches and a huge party ending in a dazzling display of fireworks: ABT Sportsline celebrated Lucas di Grassi’s Formula E title win with its roughly 200 employees at its headquarters in Kempten.
They arrived directly from the airport with a precious souvenir packed in their bags – the winner’s trophy of the new Formula E Champion Lucas di Grassi from Team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport. The squad around Team Director Hans-Jürgen Abt and Sporting Director Thomas Biermaier proudly presented the trophy to the roughly 200 employees of the car tuning company and motorsport team before switching the phones to voicemail and locking the front door – it was time to party at the Kempten headquarters.
“Naturally, Lucas and our Formula E team are in the spotlight these days, but this title belongs to all our employees at our home base in Kempten as well,” says Managing Director and Team Principal Hans-Jürgen Abt. “They supported the racers, kept their fingers crossed, took care of routine business for them or voted in the FanBoost. That’s why it was important to us to jointly celebrate this success.”
The party was also attended by mayor Thomas Kiechle, who congratulated the fastest ambassadors of his city in a brief speech. Hans-Jürgen Abt, Thomas Biermaier, Sports Marketing Director Harry Unflath and di Grassi’s teammate, Daniel Abt, looked back on the season once more in their speeches and provided first-hand accounts of the moments surrounding the sensational title win in Montreal last weekend.
ABT Sportsline has been actively involved in the electric racing series as Team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport since the series’ inception in 2014. Following third and second places in the first two seasons Lucas di Grassi has now achieved the big triumph – even though the Brazilian had travelled to the two final races in Canada with a deficit that seemed hopeless to many outsiders. “Last weekend was a particularly good example of what is possible if you never give up and are able to rely on a terrific team spirit,” says Thomas Biermaier.
A victory on Saturday and a seventh place on Sunday were sufficient for Lucas di Grassi to win the title. Daniel Abt, on clinching strong fourth and sixth places, ensured that ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport was able to successfully defend its prestigious second place in the teams’ classification.