Points on Saturday and a strong performance on Sunday. That sums up DS Penske’s weekend in Berlin, following Taylor Barnard’s eighth-place finish on Saturday and his second spot on the starting grid on Sunday.
Following Saturday’s race, which featured a mandatory Pitboost stop and a single Attack mode (providing extra power for six minutes), Sunday’s race took on a different character. The format included two fewer laps (37 in total) and, crucially, two Attack modes instead of one, totalling eight minutes. This meant that all the previous day’s strategies were obsolete, and everything had to start from scratch. Furthermore, the air temperature – and consequently the track temperature – was even higher, with the concrete of the historic Berlin-Tempelhof Airport circuit exceeding 40C. The practice sessions are particularly close at the start of the day. While Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) sets the fastest time in the day’s sole practice session, Max Guenther places his DS E-Tense just four thousandths of a second behind, and his team-mate Barnard a further four thousandths back.
Confirmation of the DS E-Tense’s fine form was not long in coming, with Barnard taking second place in Group A of qualifying, securing him a prime spot in the quarter-finals. A few minutes later, in Group B, Guenther confirmed his pace on the day, but he fell just a tenth of a second short of progressing further. In his first head-to-head, Barnard faced Felipe Drugovitch’s Andretti. Putting in a very clean lap, the DS Penske driver crossed the finish line in the lead and progressed to the semi-finals. There he faced New Zealand driver Nick Cassidy, who was also in strong form, but not quite enough to beat Barnard under the Berlin sun. Brilliant from start to finish, the British driver reached the final, where he took on Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche. What followed was a truly epic flying lap played out before the spectators’ eyes, as the DS and the Porsche traded blows at every corner, each taking the lead in turn. In the end, it was the German-Mauritian driver who came out on top, just four thousandths of a second ahead of the DS Penske prodigy.
Taylor Barnard, DS Penske
Photo by: DPPI
A highly strategic race
Barnard got off to a flying start and took the lead from the very first corners. He held his position despite repeated attacks from the other competitors. Guenther kept his DS E-Tense FE25 in the pack, biding his time. He conserved energy that he could put to good use later on. Barnard set a blistering pace and clocked the fastest lap of the race. He then dropped back a few places, strategically, to conserve energy himself. Behind him, Guenther did the hard work and moved into the top 10. Then came the time to use the first Attack mode, which significantly altered the positions, as the trigger zone was far off the ideal racing line.
At the end of the first round of Attack modes, with a third of the race remaining, the two DS Penske drivers were right in the thick of the top 10, and the battle promised to be fiercely contested right up to the finish line.
After numerous overtakes and changes within the top five, Barnard finished 11th just outside the points, while Guenther dropped a few places in the final corners, finishing 15th after having been, alongside his team-mate, one of the main protagonists of this sunny race.
The next two rounds of the Formula E world championship will take place in Monaco on 16-17 May.
Maximilian Gunther, DS Penske
Photo by: DPPI
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– The Autosport.com Team
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