Di Grassi loses Berlin Formula E victory

The Brazilian's Abt squad was deemed to have modified the front wing and front wheel faring of his car, meaning he has been excluded and the victory awarded to Dragon Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio.

The stewards found that changes had been made in three key areas relating to the internal reinforcement of the front-wheel fairings, the sealing of holes in the front wing and modifications made to the front flap and gurney. The changes were listed by the stewards as follows:

1) The front wheel fairing both left and right hand side have been modified with internal metal reinforcing rods.

2) Six of the eight holes in the front wing have been sealed. The remaining two holes having helicoil inserts and chamfers made.

3) Front flap and gurney LH 220 has a filler layer added and chamfer made.

It was deemed that this violated the regulations of the series, which uses a spec Spark-built chassis. As deliberate modifications of control parts is deemed a serious offense, the decision was made to exclude di Grassi.

There is still the possibility of an appeal from the Abt team, which according to the stewards asserted that the changes were made to repair damage rather than for performance reasons.

"The competitor accepts that the components referred to above differ from the standard items," said the stewards' statement. "The competitor does, however, maintain that the modifications were made as repairs and with no intention to gain a competitive advantage.

"Nonetheless, the components differ from the standard item and as such car #11 is accordingly excluded from the race."

D'Ambrosio's promotion to first place is his and Dragon Racing's first win in Formula E, with Sebastien Buemi moving up to second place and Loic Duval taking the final podium position.

The exclusion also costs di Grassi the lead of the championship, relegating him to third behind Nelson Piquet Jr. and Buemi.

Di Grassi responded via his Twitter account, writing: "They are trying to make me win this championship in the hard mode. Don't worry, we will be back to kick some Piquet and Buemi ass on track."

The other change to the result was lower down the order, with Karun Chandhok hit with a 28-second time penalty for exceeding the energy limit, relegating him to 18th in the final classification.

UPDATED RESULTS - 33 LAPS:

UPDATED CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Originally on Autosport.com