Lucas di Grassi

Brazil had and still has many famous racing drivers and Lucas di Grassi, who has competed in the various championships, is surely one of them. Although he raced in Formula 1 World Championship for one season, recording 18 starts with Virgin Racing in 2010, he reached the peak in other major competitions - FIA World Endurance Championship and FIA Formula E Championship.

Di Grassi was Audi Sport's driver in the FIA WEC from 2012 to 2016, finishing second in the championship in 2016 and scoring three overall podiums at Le Mans 24 Hours.

He is a regular competitor in the Formula E Championship since the inaugural season, winning the championship title in the third season (2016-2017) and finishing in the top 3 in all five seasons.

Lucas di Grassi

Winning the trophies all over the South America

He was born in August 1984 in Sao Paulo and began kart racing in 1997, becoming the South American Junior champion in the following year.

Over the years, di Grassi collected many trophies in Brazil and South America before moving to Brazilian Formula Renault in 2002. The sam year Lucas was the championship runner-up.

Departure to Europe

In 2003, di Grassi became Formula 3 Sudamericana runner-up what was a nice result knowing that he missed last six races of the season. He also debuted in the Formula 3 Euro Series, driving for Prema Powerteam what was a good preparation for the following year during which he competed in the British Formula 3 Championship as a driver of Hitech Racing. He had a solid rookie season in which di Grassi scored two wins and six podiums out from 24 races, to finish 8th in the final standings. During 2004 Lucas became a development driver for Renault F1 team where he would remain for four years.

Video - Lucas di Grassi accident at Hockenheim, 2005 Formula 3

Driving for Manor Motorsport in 2005, di Grassi was 3rd in the Formula 3 Euro Series, behind Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil. He was also 3rd in the Masters of Formula 3, again finishing behind Hamilton and Sutil, but triumphed in Macau Grand Prix, beating the future stars like Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, Loic Duval and Kazuki Nakajima.

Lucas di Grassi was GP2 Series vice-champion

In 2006 Lucas di Grassi entered the GP2 Series in which he will stay for four years. The first season with Durango team wasn’t glorious and he was 17th overall, but the following one was much better. Driving for ART Grand Prix, di Grassi finished the season as a vice-champion, scoring one win and seven podiums. The Brazilian driver earned 77 points what was 11 less than the champion Timo Glock collected.

Lucas di Grassi, ART Grand Prix team, 2007 GP2 Series

Before the start of 2008 di Grassi again changed team colors. As a driver of Campos Team, Lucas finished 3rd in the championship with three wins what was his record in the GP2 Series. In 2009, his last in the championship, di Grassi drove for Racing Engineering and again was 3rd overall, but this time with only one race victory.

Disappointing year in Formula 1

In 2010 Lucas di Grassi got the chance in Formula 1 championship as a driver of Virgin Racing team. Unfortunately, Lucas couldn’t impress. He finished the season without a point, at 24th position, so it wasn’t surprising when he was released at the end of the season. However, di Grassi remained involved in Formula 1 in 2011 as he acted as Pirelli’s test driver for the tyres prepared for the following season.

Season in Virgin Racing F1 team was a kind of nightmare

First duties in Formula E

For the season of 2012, the Brazilian driver was engaged as a test driver for the future Formula E championship. He was testing a prototype car what helped him a lot to learn many things before the start of the competition in 2014 when he became the driver of Abt Audi team.

Lucas di Grassi and the Spark-Renault SRT_01E

However, before the beginning of the Formula E, di Grassi tasted the excitement of endurance racing. As a member of Audi Sport Team Joest, Lucas debuted in 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished 3rd, driving alongside Marc Gene and Oliver Jarvis. In 2014 di Grassi returned to Circuit de la Sarthe with the same team but changed drivers line-up after Jarvis was replaced with Tom Kristensen. They finished 2nd, three laps behind the winners.

Always near the top at Le Mans and title challenger in Formula E

In the inaugural Formula E season di Grassi did very well. He won one race and finished 3rd overall establishing himself as one of the best drivers in the series. Later in 2015, he drove a full season for Audi Sport Team Joest in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), sharing the seat with Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval. They failed to win any of eight races that year but finished 4th in the final classification.

Driving for Audi at 2015 Le Mans

Lucas di Grassi made the fourth attempt to win in Le Mans, again driving alongside Jarvis and Duval, but again finished at 3rd position. In parallel, di Grassi continued to compete in Formula E and the Brazilian was in the title fight until the last round of the season, but lost the title in the controversial finale at London's Battersea Park, after crashing into the main rival Sebastien Buemi.

Third time lucky - Di Grassi wins 2017 Formula E title

Finally, in 2017 Lucas Di Grassi won the FIA Formula E Championship title. The ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver clinched the title in the final race of the season in Montreal. He scored just two wins over the season and had a lot of luck before the final round when the title defender Sebastien Buemi was hit by several penalties and lost a lot of points.

Lucas di Grassi, 2017 Formula E champion

Formula E team championship for Audi in 2018

In the 2017-2018 Formula E season, as a defending champion Di Grassi was driving the #1 car for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler.

He had a disappointing start of the season, taking first points in the fifth round and then collecting seven consecutive podiums, including two victories in Zurich and New York, to finish second in the points behind new champion Jean-Eric Vergne. However, the season was very successful because Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler captured Teams' championship title.

Outside Formula E, Di Grassi was racing in the Brazilian Stock Car series with Hero Motorsport.

Lucas di Grassi - a helmet of the champion

Again in the top 3 in the fifth Formula E season

In the fifth season of Formula E, when the new Gen2 cars were introduced, Di Grassi stayed with Audi and scored two victories. He finished third in the points, becoming the only driver to finish in the top 3 in all five seasons of Formula E.

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