Max Günther storms from last row of grid to 6th place & sets fastest lap: "An incredible performance"

Shortly after his first podium of the season in Berlin, Maximilian Günther also came up trumps in Sunday's Formula E race. The local hero of Maserati MSG Racing showed a strong recovery and finished the race from grid position 21 in sixth place - the next points for him after six previously pointless rounds of the season. Günther ultimately made up a total of 15 positions and thus knows his team behind him again.

One day after the strong Maserati pace in the first Tempelhof race, the rain on Sunday morning threw the pecking order of the previous day. After Günther and also his teammate Edoardo Mortara struggled with understeer in the 3rd free practice session, they were also eliminated early in qualifying and only finished 16th (Mortara) and 21st (Günther).

In the race, however, things were to progress mightily for the German - on a track that had dried out in the meantime. Günther made good progress with a cautious and conservative strategy in the early stages and held on to 17th place shortly before the halfway point, then used his surplus of energy from the opening laps to fight his way into the top 10 on lap 23.

After overtaking maneuvers against Nico Müller, Lucas di Grassi, Mitch Evans, Antonio Felix da Costa and Stoffel Vandoorne, he even moved up to fourth place in the meantime. Although he lost some ground in the closing stages, Günther maintained his pace, engaged in a fierce battle with Pascal Wehrlein and overtook his compatriot on lap 35 of 40 for sixth place - his finishing position. Thanks to the fastest race lap, he finished the Berlin weekend with a total of 24 points.

Günther: "The most important thing is to score a lot of championship points"

"This was a good weekend for us as a team, and I'm really happy with how my race turned out today," Günther said. "To finish sixth from the back of the grid, and then with the fastest lap, feels great. The most important thing is that we were able to take home a lot of championship points as a result."

In the Formula E Drivers' Championship, Günther climbed from the very bottom to twelfth place. With a strong second half of the season, anything is still possible for the 25-year-old. He catapulted his Maserati team from penultimate to seventh place in the world championship. The Italians are now 29 points ahead of Mahindra, Nio 333, Nissan and ABT Cupra.

? P21 to P6, fastest lap and driver of the day, @maxg_official is a man on fire this weekend! ?#BerlinEPrix | @MaseratiCorse pic.twitter.com/557M9QFlqc

- Maserati MSG Racing (@maseratimsg) April 23, 2023

"We implemented a strong team strategy today to achieve a good result after a difficult qualifying session," said James Rossiter, Maserati MSG Racing team principal. "Max went from 21st to sixth and set the fastest lap, which is an incredible achievement."

Sgro: "We are convinced of the abilities of our two drivers"

"Edo also showed a very impressive drive and was making good progress before his car was unfortunately damaged by an unavoidable accident," Rossiter continued. "It's a shame because more points would have been possible today, but overall we can be proud of our performance this weekend, especially after yesterday's podium."

Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse, was also pleased: "Max showed his strong competitive nature by making up 15 places to finish P6 and score more points for the team. Edo didn't make it into the top 10 today, but as always, we are confident in the abilities of both our drivers."

With half of its ninth season now completed, Maserati MSG Racing (formerly Venturi) will return to its roots in just under two weeks, racing its home race at the Monaco E-Prix on May 6. "Momentum is incredibly important in Formula E. We can build on this result ahead of our home race in Monaco," Günther said.