Lucas di Grassi rolled back the years in Shanghai on Sunday, carving his way from 18th on the grid to snatch victory at the very last opportunity in a breathless Round 13 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

On a drying circuit that rewarded the brave, the 41-year-old Brazilian, who has already confirmed he will retire from Formula E at the end of this season, timed everything to perfection. It was his first victory since 2022, and a landmark first win for Lola Yamaha Abt since the famous British marque returned to top-level motorsport.

The decisive moment came late. Joel Eriksson had led the field away from a late restart for Envision Racing, with Citroen Racing’s Jean-Eric Vergne and di Grassi in close attendance, a remarkable trio, each having gained 16 places from their grid slots. Crucially, the Full Course Yellow, called when di Grassi’s team-mate Zane Maloney stopped on track, had neutralised the Attack Mode activations of Eriksson and Vergne. Di Grassi’s remained in hand.

The 2016/17 champion deployed his remaining 50kW, all-wheel drive boost the moment racing resumed. He swept past Eriksson at the hairpin on the penultimate lap as Vergne fought through to the front, then rounded the Frenchman’s Citroen on the outside of Turn 1 at the start of the final tour to seal a quite extraordinary win.

The victory carries no shortage of history. Di Grassi won Formula E’s very first race in China back in 2014, and at 41 years and 328 days he extends his own record as the championship’s oldest race winner while setting a new mark as its oldest podium finisher. With retirement looming at the end of the campaign, he admitted the result was one to savour.

Vergne held on for second, while Eriksson completed the podium, a maiden rostrum and comfortably his best finish in the championship.

Heartbreak for Evans as Wehrlein profits

The day’s biggest loser never turned a wheel. Championship leader Mitch Evans was withdrawn before the start when Jaguar TCS Racing could not resolve a technical issue on his car, and his rivals wasted no time in making him pay.

Pascal Wehrlein had controlled the early running for Porsche but faded to fourth as the drying track swung the race towards those who had gambled on a bolder setup. Fourth was more than enough, though. The German leaves China at the top of the Drivers’ World Championship, overturning Evans’ 19-point advantage to lead the Kiwi by nine with four rounds remaining.

Sebastien Buemi took fifth for Envision, with polesitter Felipe Drugovich fading to sixth for Andretti.

In the Teams’ standings, Jaguar TCS Racing cling on ahead of Porsche by 243 points to 237, while Porsche extend their advantage in the Manufacturers’ contest, 384 to 334.

How the race unfolded

Damp conditions demanded a couple of laps behind the Safety Car before a static start, with Drugovich leading the field through the sweeping right-hander of Turn 1. Taylor Barnard, Pepe Marti, Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries dived for Attack Mode immediately, and Barnard briefly hit the front on Lap 5 before Wehrlein cycled through to the lead two laps later.

The Porsches then worked in tandem, Wehrlein and Nico Mueller stretching a three-second gap over Drugovich by Lap 10. But the race turned on strategy and setup. Buemi, holding three per cent more usable energy than his rivals, pounced with his second Attack Mode on Lap 18, while Eriksson produced the move of the afternoon a few laps later, sweeping around the outside of both Mueller and Buemi at Turn 1 before relieving Wehrlein of the lead soon after.

The drivers who had set their cars up for a drying track were flying. Eriksson pulled 4.4 seconds clear as Vergne and di Grassi scythed through to second and third, before Maloney’s stricken Lola brought out the Full Course Yellow on Lap 24 and reset the race for its frantic finale.

Formula E returns with the TDK Tokyo E-Prix, a double-header night race on 25 and 26 July, where Stoffel Vandoorne won a rain-hit Round 8 earlier this season.