The turbulent Formula E season opener in Hong Kong ended in disappointment for Audi after what had appeared to be a winning end to Race 2. On Sunday night, Daniel Abt was stripped of the victory he had taken on track due to an alleged administrative mistake, handing the race victory to Felix Rosenqvist and the Mahindra team. Team Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler has notified its intent to appeal against the exclusion from the classification.

During post-race scrutineering, FIA technical stewards noted a mismatch between part numbers in the technical passport and the car. The exclusion from the classification was made even though the parts are identical and all fully correspond to homologation.

“Daniel drove fantastically on both days and absolutely deserves this victory,” said Allan McNish, team principal of Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler. “What we are apparently suspected of is a administrative mistake in the car’s passport that didn’t give us any advantage at all. We want the opportunity to be able to clarify all details, that’s why we’ve announced the intent to appeal.”

In Race 1 on Saturday, Abt took fifth place while reigning series champion Lucas di Grassi remained without points on both days – suffering a damaged suspension on Saturday and slowed by a battery issue on Sunday.

“That we had a strong race performance on both days is a positive,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. “But it goes without saying that we had a somewhat different idea of Sunday night.”