Lucas di Grassi takes final bow in London

Although Lola Yamaha ABT finished with no points in London, it concludes its second season in Formula E having claimed its first victory and more points than last year.

The race marks Lucas di Grassi’s final races as a professional racing driver, after he made the decision to hang up his helmet earlier this season. Having been involved in Formula E since the very beginning, the series has been a key part of his career. In addition to being crowned champion in Season 3, Lucas has secured 1,109 points, 42 podiums and 14 victories, the latest of which was just a few rounds ago in Shanghai with the Lola Yamaha ABT Team.

It also brings to an end the partnership with ABT, who have operated the team for the past two seasons. This follows Lola’s decision at the beginning of the year to bring the race team in-house for the GEN4 era, enabling it to streamline activities, increase expertise for upcoming projects and better drive innovation through motorsport.

Unfortunately, it was a difficult day out on track, with a technical issue meaning Lucas stopped on track in FP3, causing a red flag for the session. This meant the rear end and battery needed to be changed, leading Lucas to not only miss qualifying but also get a 20-place grid penalty for the race. An electrical problem in the race meant Lucas needed to retire the car, bringing an early end to his final race. Zane finished P10 in qualifying, lining up 18th on the grid. Despite attempting a bold strategy to make up ground early in the race, the pace was faster than expected and although he made it up to P10 he was unable to hold position and ultimately crossed the line in P17.

Lucas di Grassi, #11: “So the last race of my career in Formula E is done. It was not a dream finish, the car had an electrical problem and I had to stop at the end of straight. However, I’m very happy to have had these two years with Lola. Thank you very much to the engineers, the mechanics and the management for all the support and for everything we built in these two years. Never forget we were the fastest new team to achieve a podium and a victory in Formula E, so what we achieved with Lola will be in the history books. I really enjoyed these two years, we had ups and downs, and some very emotional moments but I made a lot of memories and a lot of friends which I will keep in my heart forever.”

Zane Maloney, #22: “We’ve come to the end of my first two seasons in Formula E. In terms of results we’ve struggled a lot but this is to be expected from a new manufacturer coming into Formula E. I’ve really enjoyed working with the team though, there are some great and very talented people in the team, especially in my inner group my engineers have been amazing. We’ve had a lot of good times off track, on track not so many but the important thing is we kept pushing and kept the motivation high. Finally, I’d like to thank everyone at Lola Yamaha ABT for the past two seasons.”

Mark Preston, Team Principal, Lola Yamaha ABT, said: “Although it has been a challenging season for the team we are very proud of the work everyone has put in, the developments we’ve made and claiming Lola’s first Formula E victory in Shanghai. I’d like to first thank ABT for being such supportive partners in our first two seasons in the series, we could not have achieved our first podium and race win so quickly without them.

"I’d also like to thank Lucas for being an important part of our journey from our first ever test until our final race together in London, he helped us to develop, improve and push forwards. We look forward to seeing what he does next within the sport. Finally, I’d like to thank every single member of the team who have continued to work unbelievably hard, despite the difficulties we have faced. Even though these are to be expected as a new manufacturer joining halfway through a car generation, it can still be tough to keep pushing week after week and the team never faltered in their dedication and positive attitude. We now look forward to GEN4 when we bring the team in-house and will look to build on these strong foundations to achieve more positive results next year.”