Reigning Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi will is set to drop 10 places from wherever he qualifies for this weekend’s Santiago ePrix due to an inverter change, as Audi attempts to get his season on track.
Di Grassi has suffered a dismal start to his title defence amid technical problems across events in Hong Kong and Marrakesh and has yet to score a point, holding a lowly 19th in the standings as a result.
The fourth event of the 2017/18 Formula E season takes place in Chile this weekend but Audi has already confirmed that di Grassi faces a grid drop due to an inverter change.
As he has already utilised his one penalty-free change, he will incur a grid drop, further compromising his chances of retaining the title.
“We got to the bottom of the issues we had in Marrakesh,” said Audi Team Principal Allan McNish.
“We reproduced the problem on our test bench but the component is sealed by the FIA and so we were not in a position to fix it without incurring a penalty.”
Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist leads the standings on 54 points.
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