Formula E

Di Grassi gives Lola Yamaha shock first victory

Matt Beer

05 Jul 2026 — 2 min read

Lucas di Grassi came from the back of the Formula E field to give the Lola Yamaha Abt combination a shock first victory in the second Shanghai race.

A wet start split the field into a group taking their first attack modes straight away after early laps behind the safety car, and a group hanging back, conserving energy and holding off on their attack modes for the final part of the race - and also in some cases gambling on dry set-ups and tyre pressures in what turned out to be the correct call as no further rain came.

That meant after a Porsche dominated opening segment in which factory pair Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Mueller led Andretti's Felipe Drugovich and Jake Dennis, the final laps became a victory fight between 17th, 18th and 19th place qualifiers Joel Eriksson (Envision), Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) and di Grassi.

Di Grassi still had one attack mode to take when racing resumed with three laps to go after a long full course yellow to retrieve team-mate Zane Maloney's car from the pits straight, where it had stopped with broken suspension.

Despite Vergne's best efforts, di Grassi was able to use the extra power to take the lead on the final lap and take his first race win in four years, Lola Yamaha's first ever, and likely his last before retiring at the end of the season.

Vergne and Eriksson still completed the podium, with Wehrlein a distant but valuable fourth as it took him into a nine-point championship lead due to Jaguar's erstwhile points leader Mitch Evans missing the race entirely with a technical problem that the team said was caused by a spec component.

Results

1 Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha Abt)
2 Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) +0.565s
3 Joel Eriksson (Envision) +2.903s
4 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) +11.093s
5 Sebastien Buemi (Envision) +17.373s
6 Felipe Drugovich (Andretti) +19.651s
7 Nico Mueller (Porsche) +22.456s
8 Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +22.539s
9 Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) +22.690s
10 Dan Ticktum (Kiro) +23.685s
11 Maximilian Guenther (DS Penske) +24.248s
12 Pepe Marti (Kiro) +24.362s
13 Jake Dennis (Andretti) +26.722s
14 Antonio Felix da Costa (Jaguar) +26.934s
15 Nick Cassidy (Citroen) +27.138s
16 Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) +29.960s
17 Norman Nato (Nissan) +31.309s
18 Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) +52.032s
DNF Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha Abt)
DNS Mitch Evans (Jaguar)