Abt Lola confirms Lucas di Grassi as its first Formula E driver
Lucas di Grassi will remain with the Abt team as it begins a new partnership with Lola. Now to be known as Abt Lola, the team has retained its big-name driver for its first season in Formula E.
Di Grassi is the most experienced and most successful driver in Formula E, having been on the grid for all ten seasons, and fighting for the championship in each of the first five of those with the Abt Audi team and taking the title in 2016/17.
Over his Formula E career, he’s taken 47 podium finishes and 12 wins from 131 races. His last victory was at the 2022 London E-Prix, but his results have suffered with uncompetitive cars in the seasons since. Abt will be hoping its new powertrain developed by the Lola-Yamaha partnership will deliver some much-needed performance gains.
Having a driver of di Grassi’s calibre is also bound to help the team make its first steps in the upcoming Gen3 Evo era arriving in 2025.
Abt CEO Thomas Biermaier said: “We are delighted to continue our journey in Formula E with Lucas. Not only is he a great ambassador for our team and the entire championship, but like all of us, he is eager and fully motivated to finally be successful again.
“We know that working with a new manufacturer brings many challenges. This makes it all the more important for us to have the most experienced driver at our side in Lucas, in addition to the permanent members of the team.”
Di Grassi added: “Abt is my family. I have experienced the best moments of my career there and have full confidence in the people who work hard every day to achieve success – so I am happy that we are also tackling the new challenges together.
“It’s a very exciting project with people who know what it takes to be successful in Formula E, alongside two renowned brands in Lola and Yamaha with a wealth of motorsport heritage and technical prowess.
“We have a few busy weeks ahead of us. Together we will do everything we can to be successful as soon as possible.”
Di Grassi has already begun testing the new Abt Lola Gen3 Evo car, and he will be joined by a team-mate in due course ahead of official pre-season testing in Valencia in November.
2024 London E-Prix image courtesy of Motorsport Images.
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