Lola Yamaha ABT secures best qualifying of the season and further points in Shanghai

Although disrupted by the weather, the second Shanghai E-Prix of the weekend saw Lola Yamaha ABT come away from China with two more valuable points.

The inclement weather meant Free Practice Three started an hour earlier than planned, before being red flagged after just a few minutes. Qualifying was limited to the groups only, with the times set there determining the starting grid. Zane was sixth in Group A, while Lucas was second in Group B, which itself was disrupted by a red flag after Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing) left the track.

After delays to the previously rearranged start time due to the continuing wet conditions, Lucas lined up on the grid in P4 – the team’s best qualification of the season - with Zane a few places behind in P11. The initial laps of the race took place under the Safety Car, which came in at the end of the seventh lap allowing the race to get fully underway with a rolling start.

All of the lead group took Attack Mode at the first opportunity, except for Lucas who took his, followed by Zane who then worked his way up into the points. Unfortunately, an incident ahead of Zane resulted in him losing a few seconds and although he held on to P10 until lap 29, he was overtaken by Taylor Barnard (McLaren) to ultimately finish in P11. Lucas also lost a few places throughout the race, crossing the line in ninth but securing important points for the team.

Lucas di Grassi, #11
“We achieved two more points here in Shanghai and given our aim to be in a position in the middle of the season to fight for points, today was a good day. It was a bit frustrating as we had the best qualification result of the season in P4 but then lost a few places in the race to finish P9. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the result, we learnt a lot throughout the weekend and we hope to score more points at the next race in Jakarta.”

Zane Maloney, #22
“We are quite disappointed as a team as I think we deserved more. We were having a really good race and running in the points until an incident happened in front of me and we lost a few seconds. The whole team is doing an amazing job though and we can see the improvements each race. I’m very much looking forward to the next round in Jakarta and in the meantime we’ll keep our heads up - those points will come soon.”

Mark Preston, Motorsport Director, Lola Cars
“With a rain-affected day, we started early to allow for weather-related delays and were feeling reasonably confident in the wet weather. Qualifying was limited but positive for both cars with Lucas finishing second in his group which meant we started on the second row for the race. The conditions meant it was a difficult race but we managed to score more points - our target for the second half of the season - so we are coming away from the weekend feeling positive.”

Thomas Biermaier, CEO, ABT
“Both drivers gave a good performance in qualifying in tricky conditions, resulting in them starting P4 and P11. The difficult conditions continued for the race and we didn’t have the pace but despite this we scored points again for the team which was our target. Now after six hard weeks with the team working very hard, we will have a few well-earned days off before preparing to continue the positive progress in Jakarta."