Lucas di Grassi’s contract with the Abt team has been confirmed, ensuring that he will continue to compete in Formula E even into his 40s. Despite a disappointing season, where he only scored four points from 16 races, di Grassi remains determined to race and is not concerned about his age. He believes that his skills and abilities have not diminished with time and that as long as he maintains his discipline and motivation, he can still perform at a high level. Abt is currently considering new drivers for next season, including some young prospects who have not previously competed in Formula E.
Di Grassi recently completed two additional days of testing and development in the new Lola-Yamaha car in the United Kingdom. The testing will continue next month in Spain and Italy, and the initial feedback has been positive.
This recent testing follows the car’s first shakedown, which took place at the Turweston airfield near Silverstone last month. Di Grassi was behind the wheel for these initial runs, which were focused on straightline testing.
During last week’s tests, Di Grassi compared the performance of the Lola-Yamaha Gen3Evo car to the troubled testing of the Mahindra M9Electro Gen3 car in 2022. He expressed his satisfaction with the smooth running of the car and the ability to test various configurations without any major issues.
Although there is still work to be done to make the car competitive, Di Grassi is optimistic about its potential. He noted that the base of the car shows promise and that he hasn’t experienced such smooth testing since the early days of the Mahindra project.
Di Grassi worked closely with development staff from Lola, Abt, and Yamaha during these tests. This collaboration included engineers from Aguri and Dragon, as well as technical directors from Lola. The experience has motivated Di Grassi for the upcoming season and he feels a strong connection with the Lola team, knowing they have the potential to make significant developments.
The driver line-up for the upcoming season includes Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy for Jaguar, Antonio Felix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein for Porsche, Maximilian Guenther and Jean-Eric Vergne for DS Penske, Oliver Rowland and an unconfirmed driver for Nissan, Jake Dennis and an unconfirmed driver for Andretti, Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi for Envision, Sam Bird and Taylor Barnard for McLaren, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes for Maserati, Lucas di Grassi and an unconfirmed driver for Abt Lola Yamaha, and Nyck de Vries and Edo Mortara for Mahindra. The driver line-up for ERT is yet to be announced.
