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PR Contact: mark.schneider@speedpool.com

Originally in partnership with legendary German manufacturer Audi, the championship-winning ABT Sportsline team was one of the longest-serving teams on the grid. They kicked off with a victory in the very first race back in Beijing in 2014.

With the familiar driving pairing of Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt, ABT found themselves in the championship hunt from the very start. The inaugural season saw di Grassi in the running, ending the season in third for both driver and team in the respective standings. Di Grassi continued to keep ABT and Audi at the sharp end, second in both the Team and Drivers' standings, with Di Grassi putting in a season-long battle to come within just a couple of points of the top prize.

The following season would see Di Grassi take the top driver honours with another hotly-contested battle across the season and it was another second in the team standings. ABT's best collaborative team performance came in Season 4, the ABT/Audi partnership bearing fruit by just two points to take the Teams' trophy.

Audi and ABT departed from the series at the end of Season 7, with an impressive haul of stats: 14 wins and 47 podiums alongside their Teams' and Drivers' title success.

These performances ensured that ABT still features heavily in the top overall stats as one of the most successful teams, but the team have struggled to find that blistering pace as they returned for the GEN3 era.

For Season 9, ABT entered as ABT Cupra, partnering with automobile manufacturer Cupra. Their return to the sport was riddled with inconsistencies, both with their driver lineup and their speed. Neither Muller nor Robin Frijns (or stand-in Kelvin van der Linde) managed to secure a podium, with the team's best finish a P6 in Rome for Muller. Frijns’ season was also thrown off kilter when he was forced to sit out multiple races at the beginning of the season after picking up an injury that kept him out of the car.

In Season 10 Frijns departed the team for Envision Racing and the German squad opted to bring back Di Grassi for the 2023/24 season. As the racing came to a close, ABT Cupra was unsuccessful to secure a podium but came close with Muller securing P4 in Misano.

Season 11 brings a fresh outlook as Lola enters into a joint venture with ABT. The team will compete with a powertrain and related software developed by manufacturer Lola and technical partner, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. They also look to have one of the grid’s most exciting driver pairings, having confirmed rookie Zane Maloney as the teammate of “Mr. Formula E” Lucas di Grassi. In combining the driver with the most races in championship history, with the only rookie confirmed so far, the team underscores its intent to shake up the status quo and drive the next generation of motorsport talent and technology.

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LucasDi Grassi

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Date of Birth11 August 1984
BirthplaceSao Paulo
Lucas di Grassi was the winner of the first-ever Formula E race - the 2014 Beijing E-Prix - and is the most successful driver in the history of the championship. For the 2021/22 season, it was pastures new at ROKiT Venturi Racing, after a seven-year association with Audi’s Formula E team came to an end.

Adding to his storied history, the Brazilian became the first ever to reach the 100-race mark in Seoul, and di Grassi strode to yet another top six finish in the standings, with fifth spot and 126 points and a win in London to add to his collection. For Gen3, it’s all-change again, with a move to Mahindra Racing – the ultra-experienced racer tasked with adjusting to Formula E’s third great era.

Born in Sao Paulo in 1984, Lucas di Grassi was the first driver to commit to the series, playing a founding role in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship alongside the series' Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag. He played a key role in the development of the original prototype car that was used as a proof-of-concept for Gen1, used from the championship's inaugural 2014/15 season. In 2016, he became the first man in history to drive a racing car on the Arctic Ice Cap, when he took a starring role in the incredible Project Ice adventure.

Starting out his motorsport career after driving karts at his uncle's kart shop in Interlagos, di Grassi made his competitive karting debut at the age of 10. A journey up the single-seater ladder, as well as victory in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 2005, overall runner-up in GP2 Series and in 2010, a season in Formula 1 with Virgin Racing. In 2012, Lucas di Grassi became an Audi factory driver, clinching three podium finishes in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans - and he's represented the brand ever since.

The Brazilian has driven for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler throughout his time in Formula E, finishing third in Season 1 before taking the 2015/16 title down to the wire, narrowly losing out to Nelson Piquet Jr. It was third time lucky, though, as he overcame a 10-point deficit to claim the 2016/17 Drivers' title in Montreal.

Heading into the 2017/18 season as reigning champion, di Grassi once again overcame the odds and fought back after a tough start to the season, eventually placing second overall behind TECHEETAH's Jean-Eric Vergne. He took it down to the wire once again in the final round of the 2018/19 campaign, going head-to-head with Vergne for the second consecutive year as well as Nissan e.dams' Sebastian Buemi. Neither managed to put a stop to Vergne's domination, however, with di Grassi rounding off the season in third place.

Di Grassi was one of only three full-time drivers to have finished every race in 2019/20 on the way to sixth in the Drivers' table. His race-pace and combative style netted him the most progress, at just over six positions gained per race, of any driver. Qualifying was a thorn in the side for Audi through Season 6, and limited the Brazilian to two visits to the rostrum. For 2020/21, di Grassi remains with Audi, behind the wheel of its Audi e-tron FE07 - the German marque's first car with an all-new in-house designed and built powertrain.

Away from the circuit, the Brazilian is CEO of the autonomous racing car project Roborace as well as Founder and CEO of his own electric bike start-up in Brazil. Di Grassi lives with his wife and children in Monaco, just 200 meters from the start/finish line of the famous race track.

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler's current run in Formula E drew to a close with a win for its 2016/17 champion Lucas di Grassi on home soil in Berlin. A one-two in Puebla was another big moment as di Grassi steered to seventh in the Drivers’ table.

Pastures new in Season 8, in a Silver Arrow 02 driven by a title-winning Mercedes-EQ powertrain at ROKiT Venturi Racing saw fifth in the standings, and a highlight of the race win in London plus podiums in Seoul, New York City and Diriyah. Di Grassi did assemble a late title push but fell short of ultimate champion Stoffel Vandoorne’s miserly consistency in the end.
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ZaneMaloney

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Date of Birth02/10/2003
BirthplaceBarbados