Lucas di Grassi

Lucas di Grassi

Di Grassi at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
Nationality Brazil Brazilian
Born (1984-08-11) 11 August 1984
São Paulo, Brazil
WEC career
Debut season 2012
Current team Audi Sport Team Joest
Car no. 1
Former teams 0
Starts 20
Championships 0
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 1
Best finish 4th in 2014, 2015
Finished last season 4th
Formula E career
Debut season 2014–15
Current team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
Car no. 11
Starts 18
Championships 0
Wins 4
Poles 0
Fastest laps 1
Best finish 3rd in 2014–15
Finished last season 3rd
Formula One World Championship career
Active years 2010
Teams Virgin
Entries 19 (18 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First entry 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
Last entry 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who currently competes for Audi Sport Team Joest in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Di Grassi also races in the FIA Formula E Championship for Audi Sport ABT and became the first driver in motorsport history to win a motor race in an all-electric single-seater racing car at the 2014 Beijing ePrix. He is also a former GP2 Series runner-up, as well as driving for Virgin Racing in the 2010 Formula One season.

Career

Early career

Born in São Paulo, di Grassi's career in karting peaked in 2000, with a 5th place in the Formula A World Championship. Di Grassi began his formula racing career in Brazilian Formula Renault in 2002, finishing as runner-up.

Formula Three (2003–06)

In 2003 Di Grassi stepped up to Formula Three, driving a Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda for Avallone Motorsport in Formula Three Sudamericana. He finished as the championship runner-up behind Danilo Dirani, with one win and eleven other podium finishes. This came despite missing the last six races after suffering a major crash at the Curitiba round.[1]

He also travelled to Europe to make four race starts in the F3 Euroseries with Prema Powerteam, achieving a best finish of fourth place.[2] The following year, he made a permanent move to Europe and took a drive with Hitech Racing in the British F3 Championship. His season peaked with two wins, and he was classified in eighth place overall.[3] Another of that year's highlights was a podium finish on his début at the Macau Grand Prix with Hitech.

In 2005, Di Grassi took another step up in a full-time return to the F3 Euroseries with Manor Motorsport. Against the dominant ASM pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil he could only manage one win but ended the year third in the championship.[1]

At the end of the season, Di Grassi returned to Macau, this time with Manor, and won the event from third on the grid,[4] although runaway F3 Euroseries champion Hamilton missed the race.[1]

GP2 Series (2006–09)

Di Grassi driving for Campos Grand Prix at the Silverstone round of the 2008 GP2 Series season

2006 brought Di Grassi to the next stage in his career: promotion to the GP2 Grand Prix support series with Team Durango. It was a modest debut season, however, with only 8 points and 17th place in the championship standings.[5]

For 2007 he joined reigning champions ART Grand Prix. He scored points consistently throughout the season, failing to score only once in the first 13 races. Despite not winning a race in that time, it put him in contention for the championship along with iSport's Timo Glock.[1]

He scored his first win of the year in the 14th round of the championship at Istanbul, and took the lead of the championship,[6] but Glock moved back ahead of him when he won the sprint race at the same event,[7] and went on to win the title.

Di Grassi worked on testing the new-model GP2 car (to be used between 2008 and 2010), while testing for Renault F1. However, he resumed his GP2 career in 2008 by securing a drive at Campos Racing from round 4 onwards, replacing Ben Hanley.[8] With three-second places and one fourth-place finish, he was the highest-scoring driver over the first two race meetings in which he took part. Two wins followed and he briefly looked set for a surprising championship challenge, before a final lap collision with Giorgio Pantano (who was disqualified for the incident) at Spa effectively ended his hopes. He finished an eventual third, ten points behind Pantano despite six fewer races.

He returned to the series for 2009 with Racing Engineering,[9] and again finished third, finishing with the same number of points as he did in 2008.

Formula One

Having previously been a test driver for Renault in 2005, di Grassi tested for the Honda Racing F1 Team at the end of 2008, alongside fellow Brazilian and GP2 rival Bruno Senna.

Renault (2008–2009)

Di Grassi was then sent a contract by Renault to join them as a test driver, becoming the third GP2 runner-up to join Renault as a test driver after fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Heikki Kovalainen. However, di Grassi was not retained by the team for 2010.

Virgin (2010)

Di Grassi took his and the Virgin team's first race finish at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Di Grassi joined Timo Glock at new team Virgin Racing for 2010. The team, originally called Manor, was rebranded when Virgin Group owner Richard Branson purchased a 20% stake.[10] Di Grassi finished in 24th position in the championship, with a best race finish of 14th at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix.

In Japan, he crashed on the way to the grid before the race had started.[11] In December, di Grassi won the Desafio Internacional das Estrelas, a karting event organised by Felipe Massa.

On 21 December 2010, di Grassi was left without a drive, after Virgin announced Jérôme d'Ambrosio to partner Glock for the 2011 season.[12]

Testing

Pirelli (2011–)

On 6 July 2011, di Grassi was appointed Pirelli's official tester for their development of Formula One tyres for the 2011 season,[13] and will drive the Italian company's Toyota TF109 test car in five test sessions in order to develop the next generation of tyres, as well as attending several race weekends where he will collect information about tyre performance and attend technical briefings.[13] He will remain with Pirelli for the 2012 Formula One season alongside Jaime Alguersuari to help develop tyres for 2013 and beyond using a Renault R30 chassis and it will be upgraded to the 2012 requirements for Alguersuari and Di Grassi to run the car across four development tests during the course of the season at Jerez, Spa, Monza and Barcelona to help Pirelli improve its selection of tyres.

Formula E (2012–)

Di Grassi (rightmost, holding the steering wheel) and Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag (6th person from left) unveiling the Spark-Renault SRT 01E.

In 2012, di Grassi was announced as the official test driver for the upcoming environmentally friendly Formula E series run by the FIA.[14] He first tested the prototype Formula E car at Circuit de L'Eure near Paris in August.[15] Di Grassi later terminated his contract as test driver to race in the series.[16]

On 13 February 2014, di Grassi was announced to be competing in the upcoming Formula E season with Audi Sport ABT alongside his campaign in the World Endurance Championship. Di Grassi will be team mates with GP2 driver Daniel Abt.

Di Grassi at the 2015 Berlin ePrix.

2014-15

In September 2014, di Grassi won the first race of the season in Beijing. This made Di Grassi the first driver in history to win an all-electric motor race in history. He recorded two more consecutive podiums in Putrajaya with second place, and in Punta del Este with third place to give him the championship lead. However, Di Grassi had bad luck with suspension failure in Buenos Aires, causing him to retire from the lead, and technical issues caused him to finish 9th in Miami and lose the championship lead. Di Grassi bounced back with third place in Long Beach and second place in Monaco to give himself a 4-point lead with four rounds to go. Di Grassi's championship took a huge blow when he was disqualified from Berlin after winning the race. Di Grassi took his final podium of the season with second place in Moscow but with Piquet Jr. winning, Di Grassi entered the double-header in London 17 points down. Di Grassi finished 4th and 6th in the two races in London, one place ahead of Piquet each time and ultimately finished eleven points behind Piquet and lost second to Buemi, who won the first London race. He, however, managed the most podium finishes of any driver with six.

2015-16

For the second consecutive year Di Grassi achieved three podium finishes in the opening three races. Di Grassi started the season with second place in the Beijing and then followed this up with victory in Putrajaya and took the championship lead. Di Grassi followed up his win with second place in Punta del Este behind Buemi and third place in the Buenos Aires also behind Buemi, meaning he was four points behind after four races but at that race, set the new record for most consecutive podium finishes with 4. Di Grassi's title hopes took a brief blow after being disqualified from the win at the Mexico City but bounced back with a victory that wasn't taken away at Long Beach whilst Buemi who was 22 Points ahead going into the race had a mistake filled race where he collided into the back of Robin Frijns, had to switch cars early and ultimately finished 16th and took two points for fastest lap. Di Grassi then followed this up with another victory in the Paris whereas Buemi finished in 3rd to give him an eleven-point lead heading into Berlin.

World Endurance Championship and Le Mans with Audi Sport

In September 2012, Di Grassi was confirmed to be driving for Audi for round five in the World Endurance Championship at São Paulo alongside Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, and replacing Rinaldo Capello who had retired after the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. Di Grassi managed to qualify the No. 2 Audi second on the grid, and finished the race third overall. Di Grassi did not race with Audi for the rest of the year, but was announced as an Audi test driver for 2013.

Audi announced in March 2013 that Di Grassi was selected to race for Audi for the opening round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Di Grassi again teamed up with Kristensen and McNish, and finished second overall after exchanging the lead with the sister Audi.

Shortly after the season-opening 6 Hours of Silverstone, Audi announced that Di Grassi would be racing an experimental car at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Oliver Jarvis and Marc Gené, and finished third in both events.

On 3 February 2014, Audi announced that di Grassi would replace the retiring Allan McNish in the No. 1 Audi, sharing the ride with Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval for the full 2014 season.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2002 Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil G Force Motorsport 10 2 1 0 6 137 2nd
2003 Formula 3 Sudamericana Avallone Motorsport 12 1 3 0 11 164 2nd
Formula 3 Euro Series Prema Powerteam 4 0 0 0 0 5 21st
2004 British Formula 3 Hitech Racing 24 2 3 0 6 130 8th
Bahrain Super Prix 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 19th
Macau Grand Prix 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
FIA European Formula Three Cup 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 6th
2005 Formula 3 Euro Series Manor Motorsport 19 1 2 1 6 68 3rd
Macau Grand Prix 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd
Formula One Mild Seven Renault F1 Team Test driver
2006 GP2 Series Durango 20 0 0 0 0 8 17th
2007 GP2 Series ART Grand Prix 21 1 0 0 7 77 2nd
Formula One ING Renault F1 Team Test driver
2008 GP2 Series Barwa International Campos Team 14 3 0 2 6 63 3rd
Formula One ING Renault F1 Team Test driver
Honda Racing F1 Team
2009 GP2 Series Racing Engineering 20 1 1 2 8 63 3rd
Formula One ING Renault F1 Team Test driver
2010 Formula One Virgin Racing 19 0 0 0 0 0 24th
2011 Formula One Pirelli Test driver
2012 FIA World Endurance Championship Audi Sport Team Joest 1 0 0 1 1 15 22nd
City of Dreams Macau GT Cup AF Corse 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 17th
24 Hours of Nürburgring Dörr Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC
International V8 Supercars Championship Tekno Autosports 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2013 FIA World Endurance Championship Audi Sport Team Joest 2 0 0 0 2 45 9th
24 Hours of Le Mans 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd
American Le Mans Series 1 0 0 0 1 0 NC†
2014 FIA World Endurance Championship Audi Sport Team Joest 8 0 0 0 4 117 4th
24 Hours of Le Mans 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 2nd
Stock Car Brasil Ipiranga-RCM 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2014–15 Formula E Audi Sport ABT 11 1 0 1 6 133 3rd
2015 FIA World Endurance Championship Audi Sport Team Joest 8 0 0 0 1 99 4th
24 Hours of Le Mans 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 4th
Stock Car Brasil Ipiranga-RCM 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2015–16 Formula E ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 7 3 0 0 6 126 1st*
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship Audi Sport Team Joest 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC*
Stock Car Brasil Ipiranga-RCM 1 0 0 1 0 0 NC†

* Season still in progress.
As di Grassi was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2003 Prema Powerteam Dallara F303/022 Spiess-Opel HOC
1
HOC
2
ADR
1

14
ADR
2

18
PAU
1

9
PAU
2

4
NOR
1
NOR
2
LMS
1
LMS
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
A1R
1
A1R
2
ZAN
1
ZAN
2
HOC
3
HOC
4
MAG
1
MAG
2
21st 5
2005 Manor Motorsport Dallara F305/025 Mercedes HOC
1

Ret
HOC
2

DNS
PAU
1

5
PAU
2

7
SPA
1

DSQ
SPA
2

3
MON
1

7
MON
2

5
OSC
1

1
OSC
2

2
NOR
1

5
NOR
2

6
NÜR
1

2
NÜR
2

Ret
ZAN
1

Ret
ZAN
2

Ret
LAU
1

8
LAU
2

3
HOC
3

2
HOC
4

Ret
3rd 68

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points
2006 Durango VAL
FEA

17
VAL
SPR

16
SMR
FEA

Ret
SMR
SPR

Ret
GER
FEA

18
GER
SPR

13
ESP
FEA

12
ESP
SPR

9
MON
FEA

11
GBR
FEA

Ret
GBR
SPR

EX
FRA
FEA

7
FRA
SPR

6
GER
FEA

Ret
GER
SPR

Ret
HUN
FEA

13
HUN
SPR

Ret
TUR
FEA

5
TUR
SPR

9
ITA
FEA

10
ITA
SPR

14
17th 8
2007 ART Grand Prix BHR
FEA

5
BHR
SPR

Ret
ESP
FEA

3
ESP
SPR

3
MON
FEA

5
FRA
FEA

2
FRA
SPR

4
GBR
FEA

4
GBR
SPR

4
EUR
FEA

2
EUR
SPR

6
HUN
FEA

4
HUN
SPR

4
TUR
FEA

1
TUR
SPR

11
ITA
FEA

13
ITA
SPR

4
BEL
FEA

3
BEL
SPR

3
VAL
FEA

Ret
VAL
SPR

13
2nd 77
2008 Barwa International Campos Team ESP
FEA
ESP
SPR
TUR
FEA
TUR
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
FRA
FEA

2
FRA
SPR

4
GBR
FEA

2
GBR
SPR

2
GER
FEA

5
GER
SPR

Ret
HUN
FEA

1
HUN
SPR

10
EUR
FEA

4
EUR
SPR

1
BEL
FEA

20
BEL
SPR

5
ITA
FEA

1
ITA
SPR

11
3rd 63
2009 Racing Engineering ESP
FEA

Ret
ESP
SPR

10
MON
FEA

4
MON
SPR

4
TUR
FEA

8
TUR
SPR

1
GBR
FEA

2
GBR
SPR

19
GER
FEA

7
GER
SPR

Ret
HUN
FEA

2
HUN
SPR

3
VAL
FEA

19
VAL
SPR

Ret
BEL
FEA

3
BEL
SPR

Ret
ITA
FEA

3
ITA
SPR

2
POR
FEA

3
POR
SPR

15
3rd 63

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WDC Points
2010 Virgin Racing Virgin VR-01 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 BHR
Ret
AUS
Ret
MAL
14
CHN
Ret
ESP
19
MON
Ret
TUR
19
CAN
19
EUR
17
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
HUN
18
BEL
17
ITA
20†
SIN
15
JPN
DNS
KOR
Ret
BRA
NC
ABU
18
24th 0

Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance.

Touring Car racing

V8 Supercar results

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Final Pos Points
2012 Tekno Autosports Holden VE Commodore ADE
R1
ADE
R2
SYM
R3
SYM
R4
HAM
R5
HAM
R6
BAR
R7
BAR
R8
BAR
R9
PHI
R10
PHI
R11
HID
R12
HID
R13
TOW
R14
TOW
R15
QLD
R16
QLD
R17
SMP
R18
SMP
R19
SAN
Q
SAN
R20
BAT
R21
SUR
R22

11
SUR
R23

DNS
YMC
R24
YMC
R25
YMC
R26
WIN
R27
WIN
R28
SYD
R29
SYD
R30
NC 0 †

† Not Eligible for points

Stock Car Brasil results

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points
2014 Ipiranga-RCM Chevrolet Sonic INT
1

Ret
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
GOI
1
GOI
2
GOI
1
CAS
1
CAS
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
VEL
1
VEL
2
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
TAR
1
TAR
2
SAL
1
SAL
2
CUR
1
NC† 0†
2015 Ipiranga-RCM Chevrolet Sonic GOI
1

5
RBP
1
RBP
2
VEL
1
VEL
2
CUR
1

CUR
2

SCZ
1

SCZ
2

CUR
1

CUR
2

GOI
1

CAS
1

CAS
2

BRA
1

BRA
2

CUR
1

CUR
2

TAR
1

TAR
2

INT
1

NC† 0†
2016 Ipiranga-RCM Chevrolet Sonic CUR
1

14
VEL
1

VEL
2

GOI
1

GOI
2

SCZ
1

SCZ
2

TAR
1

TAR
2

CAS
1

CAS
2

INT
1

LON
1

LON
2

TBA
1
TBA
2
GOI
1

GOI
2

CDC
1
CDC
2
INT
1
NC† 0†

Ineligible for championship points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2012 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SEB SPA LMS SIL SÃO
3
BHR FUJ SHA 22nd 15
2013 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SIL SPA
3
LMS
3
SÃO CTA FUJ SHA BHR 9th 45
2014 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SIL
Ret
SPA
2
LMS
2
COA
2
FUJ
5
SHA
5
BHR
5
SÃO
3
4th 117
2015 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SIL
5
SPA
7
LMS
4
NÜR
4
COA
3
FUJ
4
SHA
4
BHR
6
4th 99
2016 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6
(Hybrid)
SIL
Ret
SPA
LMS
NÜR
MEX
COA
FUJ
SHA
BHR
NC* 0*

* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2013 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Spain Marc Gené
United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 347 3rd 3rd
2014 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Denmark Tom Kristensen
Spain Marc Gené
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1-H 376 2nd 2nd
2015 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest France Loïc Duval
United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 392 4th 4th

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Points
2014–15 Audi Sport ABT Spark-Renault SRT 01E BEI
1
PUT
2
PDE
3
BNA
Ret
MIA
9
LBH
3
MON
2
BER
DSQ
MOS
2
LON
4
LON
6
3rd 133
2015–16 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport Spark-ABT Schaeffler FE01 BEI
2
PUT
1
PDE
2
BNA
3
MEX
DSQ
LBH
1
PAR
1
BER
MOS
LON
LON
1st* 126*

* Season still in progress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Meet the rookies: Lucas di Grassi". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  2. "Forix". Autosport.
  3. "Forix". Autosport.
  4. "Forix". Autosport.
  5. "Forix". Autosport.
  6. "GP2 Turkey Feature: di Grassi takes title lead". MaximumMotorsport.co.uk. 2007. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  7. "GP2 Turkey Sprint: Glock back on top". MaximumMotorsport.co.uk. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  8. "Di Grassi in GP2 Return with Campos". autosport.com. 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  9. "Di Grassi joins Racing Engineering". autosport.com. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2009.
  10. "Di Grassi joins Timo Glock at Virgin Media". Gareth Llewellyn-Stevens. 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  11. "Lucas Di Grassi crashes on way to grid in Japan". BBC Sport (BBC). 10 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  12. Noble, Jonathan (21 December 2010). "D'Ambrosio secures Virgin race seat". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  13. 1 2 "Di Grassi confirmed as Pirelli test driver". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 6 July 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  14. Lostia, Michele; Tremayne, Sam (5 September 2012). "Lucas di Grassi appointed Formula E development driver". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  15. "Pirelli test driver backs Formula E". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 5 September 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  16. Biesbrouck, Tim (19 December 2013). "'Lucas di Grassi terminates Formula E test job to become a driver'". Retrieved 19 December 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lucas di Grassi.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Alexandre Prémat
Macau Grand Prix
Winner

2005
Succeeded by
Mike Conway
Preceded by
Michael Schumacher
Desafio Internacional das Estrelas
Winner

2010
Succeeded by
Jaime Alguersuari
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.