Lucas di Grassi has hailed last weekend's Mexico City E-Prix as the best Formula E race of his career after the Brazilian driver took his ninth win in the all-electric championship in a final-lap duel with Pascal Wehrlein.
The Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler driver took a dramatic victory in the fourth race of the 2018/19 campaign after starting in second, initially dropping to third place before fighting back to clear Oliver Rowland and overtake Mahindra Racing's Wehrlein in the final meters of the race after the German driver ran out of usable energy.
Di Grassi's first-place finish in the Mexican capital marked his first win since Race 1 in last season's New York City E-Prix while the result marked Audi's second consecutive podium finish, with Daniel Abt delivering the German marque with third place in Santiago last month.
"I have to say – it was probably the best Formula E race of my career to date, because it’s difficult to overtake and make the moves in the correct moment," said di Grassi post-race.
"I managed to overtake [Oliver] Rowland when he went into Attack Mode, and then [Pascal] Wehrlein was a bit more than aggressive I’d say. I knew he was running out of energy.
"In the last lap I was behind him, pretended to go around the outside and he opened a small door just enough for the car to fit in and I went there.
"It was a crazy last lap and on the last corner he was closing the gap and I managed to be the winner. I couldn’t believe it."
Wehrlein, who took the chequered flag in second place, was handed a five-second time penalty post-race for cutting the Turn 3 chicane when defending from di Grassi during the final lap, with this dropping the rookie down to sixth, promoting Antonio Felix da Costa to the runner-up spot while Edoardo Mortara secured his second podium finish in the series for Venturi.
Winning in Mexico City has propelled di Grassi up to fourth in the Drivers' Championship, with the Season Three champion now holding 34 points, 19 points adrift of Jerome d'Ambrosio who reclaimed the lead in the standings by finishing in fourth at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez.
In the Teams' Standings through the collective efforts of di Grassi and Abt, who also finished inside the top 10 in Mexico City, Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler complete the top five, one point behind the fourth-placed DS Techeetah squad who currently have 57 points.
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship will return on March 10 for the Hong Kong E-Prix.
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