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Strong comeback for Wehrlein
TAG Heuer Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein made up ten places at his home race in Berlin. However, the current championship leader is still hunting down a better pace in qualifying to fight back up at the front.
After qualifying in 15th for a second consecutive race, the German driver managed to escape all the SABIC Berlin E-Prix madness around him to climb up the pack to finish sixth. He still clings on to the top spot of the standings after Round 7, with the lead only one point less than it was at the start of the day, and he is now 23 points ahead of the Envision Racing of Nick Cassidy.
"It was a positive race," Wehrlein said. "We are coming here to win or be on the podium. The race was a damage limitation, we scored some good points, but we want to be competitive in the home race and weekend.
"Today, we were missing pace, and now we will look into the data and hope to make a step forward in qualifying because we know the race pace is good. We need to start somewhere around the top six or top eight, and then we can fight for the race win."
Describing the race itself, the three-time Formula E race winner said it was "wild from inside the car" and that "there was always action".
Frustration from Da Costa
On the other side of the garage, it was a day of disappointment for Antonio Felix da Costa. Having qualified down in 19th, his worst performance in a group qualifying so far this season, he was on a mission to make up places amongst all the chaos and doing it well.
However, on lap 31, when running in fourth, he was tagged as the Avalanche Andretti of Jake Dennis, which abruptly ended his race.
"I can sleep well when I make a mistake because I have only myself to blame. But then, when you're doing a solid job, a faultless race, and somebody else takes you out like that, it sucks.
"Dennis apologised, which I respect, but he still took 12 or 14 points away from me today, which would have virtually made me second in a championship. It is what it is, and we wake up tomorrow and go again. One day at a time now."
With the qualifying performance the critical thing that both drivers say needs to be improved, da Costa was still very pleased with his race pace despite the unfortunate end to his day.
"The race was insane. Many things are going on, and cars are very close together, plus a racetrack that bunches things up. You have to stay alert and awake; not everyone does that very well, and there's a lot of unnecessary contact going on. If a couple of cars are in front fighting, I know the corner will be slower for us. It's just like traffic; you need to look in front sometimes.
"Another reason to be happy with what I did today. I barely touched anything and managed to pass 14 cars."