Lucas di Grassi left Punta del Este with his first podium of season four, satisfied with the speed and performance of Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler after enduring a difficult first half of his 2017/18 Formula E campaign.
The reigning champion claimed provisional pole in qualifying but started the race from second after having his Super Pole time invalidated when the driver clipped the bollard on the inside kerb of Turn 15, with the action being deemed as exceeding track limits.
Despite having one of the fastest cars on the grid after breaking the lap record around the Punta del Este circuit in second practice, di Grassi was unable to convert a front row start into a win, being unable to find a way past Jean-Eric Vergne who denied Audi of a second consecutive win.
"First of all, congratulations to Jean-Eric and Sam [Bird]. For Jean-Eric on the win, but for Sam to come from ninth on the grid," said second-placed man di Grassi.
"It was a really tough race for me, and to be honest JEV didn’t make many mistakes, I tried very hard – and I had the fastest car today.
"Starting second, on the dirty side, I tried very hard at the end to overtake him. I’m very satisfied with the car that I have but today we could’ve got 20 points and we only got 18.
"We know that in Formula E, when you get the chance you have to grab it. JEV defended very well so there was very little margin for me to attack, I think he did a small mistake coming into the last sector – we ended up touching a little bit and got super close.
"I tried my best, the car was super competitive – that won’t be the last time the team will fight for victories,” he added.
After beating Sebastien Buemi to the season three title last year, di Grassi had a difficult start to his 2017/18 campaign, failing to finish inside the top ten in the first four races through a number of technical problems before finishing in ninth place in Mexico City, scoring his first points of the season.
Di Grassi's haul of 18 points from Uruguay has placed him in tenth place in the Drivers' Championship with six rounds remaining, 88 points adrift of Vergne who currently leads, making the probability of a title defence unlikely.
