Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY had come to the season’s eighth round, that would be run at the old Tempelhof airport in Berlin.
Caca Bueno had taken Pole Position in front of his teammate Sergio Jimenez and Simon Evans. Championship leader Bryan Sellers started in P4, just ahead of the new driver in the field, Adam Carroll.
Carroll replaces Stefan Rzadzinski, since the Canadian had damaged too many cars and the other drivers were very upset with him in Monaco, after hitting both Rahal Letterman Lanigan cars in just a few metres and sending Katherine Legge hard into the armco.
The start went pretty calmly, although Sellers tried to overtake Evans from the outside in Turn 1 – but without any luck, so he was still P4.
There was a temporary chaos later on the lap, when Legge brushed Bandar Alesayi and sent the Saudi driver out in a spin. It broke the rear suspension on Alesayi’s car so he had to retire. The bad luck continued for the team when Ahmed Bin-Khanen was held up by Alesayi. Legge got a three grid penalty in the next race for the offence.
Carroll outbraked himself past Sellers – but one lap later Carroll lost the place again when he did a huge slide through Turn 1, but he kept the car on the track without spinning.
Photo: Jaguar Racing
Celia Martin had the lead in the Pro-Am field, but Yaqi Zhang was right behind her. Martin defended herself really nicely and wouldn’t let him pass.
Halfway into the race there was a bit of contact between Martin and Zhang, but Martin kept the lead. But six minutes before finish, Martin had to give up the position to Zhang.
There was more chaos in the Pro-Am category, when Ziyi Zhang dove very late on Martin. There was a contact and at the same time Ahmed Bin-Khanen was squeezed in the middle, when Ziyi Zhang came back to the track. It caused some debris, so there was a short Full Course Yellow to get them cleaned-up.
One wouldn’t be able to guess that Bueno and Jimenez were teammates, since they were fighting hard in front, where there was even a contact between the two. Evans drove in P3 and waited patiently in case the two drove each other off the track.
But it didn’t happen, and Caca Bueno won the race, ahead of Sergio Jimenez and Simon Evans. Bryan Sellers finished in front of Adam Carroll and Katherine Legge.
Photo: Jaguar Racing
Yaqi Zhang won Pro-Am in front of Celia Martin og Ahmed Bin-Khanen.
Sergio Jimenez has overtaken the lead in the Pro championship, ahead of Bryan Sellers and Caca Bueno. Simon Evans still theoretically has a chance to win, but it requires that he wins both the remaining races and that Jimenez retires in both.
Bandar Alesayi lost yet again valuable points in Pro-Am, so Yaqi Zhang closes up the gap dangerously, while Ahmed Bin-Khanen only has more or less a theoretical chance to win the title. He must win the two remaining races, and Alesayi must not score any point or take Pole Position.
The last round of the season will be run in New York on 13 and 14 July 2019.
