Lucas di Grassi hailed the inaugural Rome ePrix as an "extraordinary" event after the reigning Formula E champion scored a podium finish on the streets of the Italian capital for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler.
Di Grassi qualified in sixth place for the race, being pushed out of a spot in the Super Pole shootout by Techeetah's Andre Lotterer, who outpaced the Brazilian driver in the fourth group of runners in qualifying.
At the race start, di Grassi had an average getaway from his grid slot and dropped down to eighth by the end of the first lap, being overtaken by NIO's Oliver Turvey and his Audi team-mate Daniel Abt.
Using the overcut strategy, di Grassi pitted after the race leaders Felix Rosenqvist and Sam Bird, meaning that the driver had more usable energy available for the second half of the race due to the lower mileage on his second car.
The additional usable energy proved to be beneficial, with di Grassi overtaking long-term rival Sebastien Buemi, Abt, Lotterer and Mitch Evans to move into second place, with race leader Rosenqvist retiring on lap 24 after a suspension failure, accounting for an additional gained position.
Hunting down and ultimately closing in on Bird, di Grassi was unable to find a way past the DS Virgin Racing driver and settled for second position, marking a second consecutive podium finish after battling for the lead with Jean-Eric Vergne in the Punta del Este ePrix in March.
“First of all, nobody can say this event was average, it was extraordinary," said di Grassi post-race. "The podium that we just came from was absolutely fantastic.
"My race started quite badly because I didn’t expect [Sebastien] Buemi to go so close to the inside at the start and then stop very early. So this allowed everybody to jump on the outside, so I was basically sitting behind him waiting and I lost some places.
"Then I think I came from ninth or eighth, I was somewhere around that trying to overtake one by one. I managed to do it, so I did a very conservative first stint trying to save energy – attacking at the very end and did a good pit stop.
"Then used the Fanboost to overtake Buemi who was struggling with energy anyway and then at the end it was pretty intense, because Mitch [Evans] was chasing Sam [Bird] and I was just looking and stayed close in case something happened," he added.
Through a second place finish, di Grassi has moved into eighth in the Drivers' Championship, trailing seventh-placed Evans by a mere five points with five races remaining.
While di Grassi finished on the podium, Abt also finished well in fourth place, also securing the fastest lap. This collective effort meant that the German marque left Rome with 31 points, launching it two places to fourth in the standings.
