Lucas di Grassi feels he is back in the battle for the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship title after finishing third in race one of the New York City E-Prix on Saturday.
The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver started seventh and made good use of his attack modes to move up the order, with di Grassi in the ideal position to move up into the podium places when Jean-Éric Vergne attacked Nick Cassidy for the lead.
Maximilian Günther may have moved from third to first in the same move, but di Grassi was perfectly placed to get ahead of Cassidy as well, and he ultimately ended third to move up to ninth in the championship standings.
With the 2020-21 season appearing to be one of the closest, di Grassi is only eighteen points behind joint leaders Edoardo Mortara and Robin Frijns heading into the final five races of the season, the first of which is race two of the New York weekend on Sunday.
“Today was a fantastic day in New York and, after the victory in Mexico, it’s already another trophy,” said di Grassi, who now has finished on the podium three times in New York. “Now, I’m also back in the title fight.
“I’m sure everything will remain open until the very last race.”
Team-mate René Rast endured bad luck during Qualifying earlier in the day when he encountered a slow Mortara on his fast lap, with the delay meaning he started only twenty-second on the grid.
However, Rast once again showed his pace in race conditions to come through to tenth and the final point to remain fourth in the Drivers’ standings, just eleven points off the lead.
“Bad luck just doesn’t seem to want to leave us in qualifying,” said Rast. “That was the absolute maximum today, but at least it’s nice that the effort and fighting on track paid off.”
