“With his impressive performances in Berlin, René proved that he feels comfortable in Formula E and at the same time is also fast and successful. He has absolutely earned his place in our Formula E team,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. At the finale in Berlin in August, Rast scored a point in the first of six races and made it onto the podium a few days later. As a rookie in the final races, he scored a total of 29 points and finished 15th in the drivers’ championship, which was ahead of many drivers who had contested the entire season.

“The races in Berlin have definitely whetted my appetite for more, so I’m now looking forward to my first full season in Formula E,” says Rast. “Starting in this world championship for Audi is the next exciting chapter in my career and I am really looking forward to it.” Rast has been a member of the Audi driver family since 2009. In addition to victories in the 24-hour races at Daytona, Spa and the Nürburgring, he has won the ADAC GT Masters title and has twice been crowned as the DTM champion. Rast is the leader of the standings ahead of the last two races of the current DTM season at Hockenheim.

Alongside René Rast, Lucas di Grassi is starting his seventh Formula E season in the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team. After 69 races, he leads the all-time list of best drivers with 32 podiums and 796 points. Among his ten victories is also the triumph at the first Formula E race in history, which was held in Beijing in September 2014. “I have experienced everything in these six years: great successes, defeats, insane emotions. And the best is yet to come, because the start-up from back then is now turning into an FIA World Championship,” says di Grassi, who recently ended his first season without finishing in the top three of the driver’s championship standings. “Together with Audi and René, I will give everything in 2021 to have a say in the fight for the world championship title.”

“For me, it was extremely important to have two drivers who push each other to peak performance,” says Dieter Gass. “With Lucas and René, we have succeeded in doing this brilliantly. Lucas is the most successful driver in the field and extremely hungry to win his second title. René has already left an impressive mark in Berlin. We are enjoying his determination year after year in the DTM. I am already looking forward to experiencing it in Formula E.”

The start of the seventh Formula E season is scheduled for mid-January 2021 in Santiago (Chile), the German home race in Berlin is scheduled for June 19. A total of twelve events will be on the world championship calendar for Lucas di Grassi, René Rast and the Audi e-tron FE07.

After 158 days, Formula E will restart its sixth season on August 5. Never before has there been such a long-time gap between two races. The last appearance was the Marrakesh E-Prix on February 29, the fifth race of the season, then the COVID-19 pandemic prevented all of the subsequent events. The series will now continue with a very compact schedule: Formula E will be running six races within roughly one week at the former airport in Berlin. The three “double headers” will run on August 5/6, 8/9 and 12/13 and will be held on different track variants without spectators. To ensure the health of all the teams and employees and to meet all of the official requirements, Formula E has developed a comprehensive safety concept in conjunction with German authorities.

Audi has prepared itself well for the second half of the season: René Rast will take over the cockpit from Daniel Abt. Rast joined Audi in 2009 and has won two DTM drivers’ titles, the first in 2017 and the second last year. The 33-year-old German already has some limited Formula E experience: In 2016, he raced in the Berlin E-Prix for another team, however that event was held on a street circuit downtown.

“I’ve been following Formula E very closely for a long time and am now looking forward to this new challenge,” says René Rast, who also has respect for the jump into the new series. “The demands on the drivers in Formula E are high: In addition to pure speed, it’s also a question of efficiency, battery management and the perfect strategy – and all of this on tight city circuits, where things are usually quite turbulent.”

For Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass, René Rast is the perfect line-up for the vacant Audi e-tron FE06: “As a two-time DTM Champion and long-time Audi driver, René was naturally on the shortlist from the very beginning. In the past, he has often proved how fast he is in a new series without having to get used to it,” says Gass. “It’s nice that there are no overlaps between DTM and Formula E so that René can compete in both series for us. With six final races in Berlin, our team still has everything to play for in the championship.”

At least nine events, one every week, with all of the top Formula E drivers and spectacular city circuits like Monaco and Hong Kong: Formula E uses the worldwide racing break for an adventure into the virtual world. In contrast to other simulator series, the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge only features drivers from the world of Formula E, and they are competing for a good cause: In partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF, Formula E is supporting the global campaign against Covid-19.

The preparations in Kempten in Bavaria and in Brazil’s metropolis São Paulo are already running at full speed: Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi are working on their technical setups to be ready to start on Saturday afternoon. “It used to be a toy, but now the home simulator is like my race car,” says Daniel Abt, who is setting up all of the equipment at home at the moment. “So, now I’m a racing driver, mechanic and engineer all in one.” After all, the German has already won an E-Race, which is always held on race day together with fans on simulators in the E-Village at the real Formula E circuits.

Lucas di Grassi, together with his family, withdrew from public life to a rural area close to São Paulo and returns to his hometown for the race days, where he can use a simulator. “These are hard times for everyone right now. It’s great that we can now at least offer our fans a bit of action and fun with this idea from Formula E,” says Lucas di Grassi, who has been a UN ambassador for clean air since 2018. “We will be giving everything to provide a good show and also doing something for a good cause at the same time – a perfect combination.”

The ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge regulations have nothing to do with the normal set from Formula E and are as simple as they are exciting: after a single lap in qualifying, the drivers will compete against each other in a so-called “Race Royale”: On every lap, the last car drops out until only the top ten remain. Points are awarded according to the well-known Formula E system, which includes points for pole position and the fastest race lap. The basis for the series is the game rFactor2.

In addition to the virtual action on track, there will also be a show with presenter Nicki Shields and commentators Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti. Formula E will broadcast the  ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge live on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and the official website https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2020/april/race-at-home-challenge