Lola Yamaha ABT continues scoring streak in Sanya

Lola Yamaha ABT finished in the points for the third race in the row at the Sanya E-Prix, continuing its positive trajectory in race pace and performance.

In the free practice sessions, Lucas focused on race preparation, knowing with the penalties due to the change in elements of the powertrain from Monaco he would start from the back. Zane’s side of the garage focused on performance finishing in the top 6 in both sessions in 300kW.

For qualifying Lucas continued this approach of focusing on energy management and the race, therefore finishing in P10 in Group A. In the second group, Zane had good pace however he hit the wall coming out of turn three, ending his qualifying session. He lined up on the grid in P17 after other drivers received penalties.

In the race, both sides of the garage executed their strategies well. Zane took an early six-minute Attack Mode to make his way through the field, progressing to P2. After dropping back a few places with other drivers in Attack Mode, contact from Mitch Evans meant Zane lost more places and the race was red flagged. Zane started P8 in the restart but with only two minutes of Attack Mode remaining he struggled to maintain position and finished in P11.

Lucas took his stop and go penalty straight away and then focused on saving energy and managing temperature at the back. Following the red flag, he was up on energy to the field and was able to utilise this and his two four-minute stints of Attack Mode to finish in P10 and secure a point for the Lola Yamaha ABT team.

Lucas di Grassi, #11: “We had a very good weekend scoring points for the third consecutive race and this one was even harder as we had a 40 grid place penalty from Monaco and a stop and go penalty, so we were last in the race. However, we kept fighting, kept our heads down doing the work that needed to be done and we managed to score one point so I’m very happy. We will carry this momentum over to Shanghai and hopefully we can finish the season scoring points in every race – that’s the target.”

Zane Maloney, #22: “I think we maximised the race here in Sanya. We took an early Attack Mode, came through the field and were decent on energy. However, we got very unlucky with the red flag both in terms of getting hit and it being the worst timing for us. The other side of the garage got fortunate with that red flag so Lucas scored a point so I’m of course happy for the team but for my side it was a bit unfortunate in general. Everyone is doing a great job though and we will keep pushing. We have a double header in Shanghai now to focus on, and the pace and performance in 300kw is there so that’s what I’ll be working on trying to maximise.”

Fred Espinos, Deputy Team Principal, Lola Yamaha ABT, said: “We have now scored points for three races in a row, which is a great reward for the team and the hard work they have put in. It was a day of up and downs though as on Zane’s side we were in the top 5 or 6 in FP1 and FP2 in 300kw so we definitely have the pace to go to the duels, unfortunately a driver mistake in qualifying meant he hit the wall and ended his session. This will also lead to a penalty in Shanghai as we now need to change some elements on the car. So that was the down of the day. On the upside, the race execution from the whole team was great, we kept calm and executed our plans well.

“We really saw Lucas’ experience this weekend. In a way, it could have been very frustrating for him because every session we were working on energy management as opposed to trying to find performance, so we were always purposefully off the pace. However, everyone stayed calm, worked on the car, and after the red flag in the race we had more energy, we had the pace and he managed to finish in the top 10.

“Zane had a strong race and a very good strategy to make his way up the field early and try to stay there as we felt something would happen. Although it did, unfortunately he was involved in the red flag as he was touched by another driver and lost some positions. After that we tried to optimise and finished just outside the points. So overall it was a good weekend in terms of pace and race execution, and we have clearly made progress. We now just need to put everything together so we can finish higher in the points in Shanghai and Tokyo.”

The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship continues in Shanghai on 4th and 5th July 2026.