Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler has sealed a double-double podium finish to overturn a 33-point deficit and claim a maiden Formula E team championship crown at the last event of the season in New York.  Heading into the final round of the season, last year’s Formula E drivers’ champion, Lucas di Grassi, and team-mate, Daniel Abt, produced a phenomenal comeback taking 78 from a maximum of 94 points available to overhaul the Techeetah team.

Following a triumphant one-two on Saturday, reducing the gap to just five points, Sunday’s finale proved the ultimate showdown. After starting fourth and fifth respectively, directly behind their championship rivals, both drivers enjoyed excellent races before becoming embroiled in a fight for the lead during the final few laps.

A frantic climax saw track positions and championship standings change lap-by-lap, but eventually, after Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer received a 10-second stop-go penalty for jumping the start, the two Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler cars’ second double podium of the weekend ensured the team could celebrate a historic first team title after four seasons of racing.

On the unexpected triumph, Schaeffler Chief Technology Officer, Professor Peter Gutzmer, said, “This is incredible. We arrived in New York in a very difficult position, but we still managed to turn things around and we are now team champions. We could not be happier. We have challenged every season, so to be able to put this trophy in our cabinet is very special. We’ll put this generation of Formula E car into our museum and look back on some extremely successful years.”

A new era of Formula E will get underway in mid-December. Together with Audi as an official technology partner, Schaeffler has enjoyed an illustrious period in Formula E and will hope the new Audi e-tron FE05 can deliver even greater success. Managing Partner and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG, Georg F. W. Schaeffler, was amongst the 300 guests who gathered on a New York rooftop to see a prototype of the new car being unveiled.