Nico Mueller managed to secure a brilliant fourth place finish for ABT CUPRA in Round 7, as the Swiss driver converted the same place grid slot into his second points-scoring result of Season 10.
Starting from fourth after making it into the Duels for a fourth consecutive race day, Mueller drove brilliantly and, aided by a great strategy, was in the fight for third until the very last few metres of the race. Fighting Andretti’s Jake Dennis and with Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy behind him, the result was decided in a nail-biting last corner decider.
“This was an all-round successful weekend,” Mueller said after the Misano double-header. “Twice in duels in qualifying, twice starting the race from the second row and almost on the podium on Sunday.
“We learned our lesson from Saturday and worked much better as a team on Sunday. The guys in the garage did a great job guiding me through the race. Of course a trophy and champagne would have been perfect, but I’m still going home with a good feeling.”
FEATURE: Revisit ABT CUPRA's Formula E victories
It was the best result for Mueller since his podium at the 2021 Valencia E-Prix, and helped the team reach 19 points after Nico’s six points in Tokyo and teammate Lucas di Grassi getting his first point of the season in Saturday's Misano E-Prix. It also marks the team's best result since returning to the all-electric championship in Season 9 for the GEN3 era.
“Congratulations to Nico, Lucas and the whole team – everyone did a fantastic job this weekend,” Thomas Biermaier, ABT CUPRA CEO and Team Principal added.
“Of course, a trophy on Sunday would have been the cherry on the cake, but even so, everyone can be proud of this performance. We carried the experience of the previous day’s race perfectly into a different, more aggressive strategy and were rewarded with the best result since our comeback. This sense of achievement makes us even more optimistic for Monaco, where we want to pick up exactly where we left off.”
HANKOOK DEBRIEF: Six things we learned in Misano
“This was a very important weekend for the team as we scored points on both days,” di Grassi concluded. “Congratulations to Nico, who almost finished on the podium.
“I myself was in the top 10 on Sunday, but then got a penalty. But more important than points and positions is the fact that we are now in a position to fight for points on a regular basis. That was our goal at the beginning of the season. If we continue like this, we’ll be fighting for the podium again soon.”