Lucas di Grassi has secured his first win as reigning champion of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship at the historic inaugural Zurich E-Prix – the first circuit race to have taken place in Switzerland in over 60 years. The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver scythed his way through the order from fifth on the grid to finally take top spot, having scored a remarkable four consecutive second places in recent races.

The Brazilian picked off the leading pack one-by-one over the course of the opening period of the race – crucially taking the lead from Mitch Evans approaching the mid-race car swaps and held station to the chequered flag.

DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird’s second place and sixth podium finish of the season makes sure we’ll see a title fight that once again goes to the final race weekend. Bird started the race as the only realistic contender to table-topper Jean-Eric Vergne and needed desperately to reduce the 40-point gap, which he duly did.

With Vergne struggling in qualifying, as well as serving a drive-through for speeding under Full Course Yellow, Bird seized the opportunity and now sits 23 points adrift heading into the season finale double-header in New York.

The TECHEETAH driver started on the back foot and couldn’t find the speed in qualifying, lining-up in 17th – Vergne’s lowest starting position since Punta del Este in 2015. Despite the troubles, he made progress prior to changing cars and jumped seven places in the opening nine laps.

Vergne drew alongside Felix Rosenqvist on the main straight and put a move on the Mahindra driver into the tight Turn 1. The Swede ran out of road and went into the barrier on the outside of the first corner, but managed to return to the garage and left debris across the track.

As Vergne was tussling with Jerome D’Ambrosio - and lapping Rosenqvist - the Frenchman drove over the rear wing of the Mahindra, which was followed by a Full Course Yellow to clean the section between Turns 2 and 3.

The caution period led to the majority of the field coming into the pits - to reduce the impact of the time spent swapping cars - but a slow pit-stop dropped Vergne down the order forcing him to mount yet another fightback. However, his move through the pack was short-lived after being handed the aforementioned penalty.

Di Grassi and Bird were joined on the podium by Jerome D’Ambrosio – signalling the first time the Belgian has stood on the podium since 2016 in Battersea Park. D’Ambrosio benefitted from a host of drivers also being penalised, but showed the renewed pace of the DRAGON outfit.

Vergne wasn’t the only driver to fall foul of speeding under Full Course Yellow – with Evans, Andre Lotterer, Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Buemi also penalised with drive-throughs.

Lotterer, who started on the front row, crossed the line in fourth and claimed the extra point for fastest lap. Former champion and local favourite Buemi ended-up in fifth - passing thousands of fans lining the streets in Zurich on his cool down lap.

Mahindra Racing’s Nick Heidfeld earned his best finish of the season since a podium place in Hong Kong with sixth. Evans, who secured the first-ever pole position for Panasonic Jaguar Racing, could only manage seventh after also losing time passing through the pit lane.

Antonio Felix da Costa progressed from 15th to eighth to finish ahead of Oliver Turvey in ninth, with Vergne picking up the final point in 10th.

As the season draws to a close, Formula E heads across the Atlantic to the New York City for the second time. The fully-electric Formula E cars will once again race in Brooklyn against the backdrop of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty for the final two rounds of the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, said: “The weekend was amazing and the event here was fantastic. You could hear the huge number of people cheering all over the track. I tried to save a bit more energy in the first half of the first stint, and then managed to overtake the next three cars - I was a little bit lucky to overtake Mitch just before the Full Course Yellow. We did the car swap and came back out in the lead and then they all got a drive-through. Then it was pretty much about managing the gap to Sam. We’ve been very unlucky in the first half of this season and now the luck has turned - five consecutive podiums, which I think is a record. To win in Zurich is the cherry on the cake.”

Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, said: “I was disappointed after qualifying, as I felt we had a missed opportunity to get three extra points for pole - the first two-thirds of the lap was some of the best I’ve driven and I threw it away in the chicane. We settled into a rhythm in the race and it’s become apparent that I have to lift more than the people around me. That’s just the way it is - but we’ve got ourselves in this fantastic position in the title fight, and scored second place today - with a little bit of luck I have to say. We can fight in New York and we know what happened there last year… I need to beat him in the first race and put the pressure on. If I can do that, then we’ll see!”

Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, said: “We had a good qualifying in Paris, in Berlin and again today - that’s gone a long way to allowing me to have a result like today, which was very important for the team. Formula E is about consistency and putting everything together. There is a tremendous amount of work for the driver in the car, we have to take into account many things - you just have to be on top of everything and that’s part of being a good driver in this series.”

2018 Zurich E-Prix (Rd 10)

1 - Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, 51:19.811s (25)
2 - Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +7.542s (18)
3 - Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, +16.822s (15)
4 - Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, +20.295s (13)
5 - Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +26.692s (10)
6 - Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +28.059s (8)
7 - Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +30.631s (9)
8 - Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +31.301s (4)
9 - Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, +32.180s (2)
10 - Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, +32.833s (1)
11 - Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team, +34.604s
12 - Jose Maria Lopez, DRAGON, +35.206s
13 - Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, +46.222s
14 - Stephane Sarrazin, Andretti Formula E, +1:09.505s
15 - Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, +1 Lap
16 - Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, +1 Lap

DNF - Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, 31 Laps
DNF - Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, 20 Laps
DNF - Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 20 Laps
DNF - Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, 6 Laps

Driver standings
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH - 163
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing - 140
Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler - 101
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams - 92
Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing - 86

Team standings
TECHEETAH - 219
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler - 186
DS Virgin Racing - 157
Mahindra Racing - 116
Panasonic Jaguar Racing - 105
Renault e.dams - 99
Venturi Formula E Team - 56
NIO Formula E Team - 47
DRAGON - 41
Andretti Formula E - 24