Audi has been stripped of its first victory in Formula E, at the season opener yesterday because of a paperwork issue.

AUDI MIGHT HAVE won the race but it was stripped of victory because of a mismatch in its paperwork. Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler has notified its intent to appeal.

Last night at the opening round of the new Formula E season, Audi’s Daniel Abt scooped the race victory; title defender and Audi racer, Lucas di Grassi, was kept out of the running with damaged suspension on Saturday and a battery issue on Sunday.

During post-race scrutineering, the Technical Stewards noted a mismatch between part numbers in the technical passport and the electric Audi racer. The exclusion from the classification was made even though the parts are identical and all fully correspond to homologation, Audi said.

“Daniel (Abt) drove fantastically on both days and absolutely deserves this victory,” says Allan McNish, Team Principal of Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler. “What we are apparently suspected of is an 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.”

“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.”