After just a solitary podium in Season 4, the team went into Season 5 determined to begin Formula E’s new Gen2 era in stronger form.
After showcasing his speed in the opening three rounds, Edo’s racing pedigree came to the fore in the fourth E-Prix of the 2018/19 campaign.
In qualifying, new Venturi recruit Felipe Massa stormed to P3 on the grid while Edo secured P9, putting the team in a strong position to challenge for points. A slow start saw Felipe drop down to P6 and Edo P10 – but from there, the fightback was on.
An early incident involving Jean-Eric Vergne, Nelson Piquet Jr and Alexander Sims allowed Edo to sneak up to P7, with the seven-time Macau winner then immediately clearing his team-mate Felipe at the race restart.
Running in P6, fortune continued to favour Edo, as our Swiss-Italian star jumped to P4 in the closing stages – overtaking the Nissan pair of Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland, who had reached critical levels of energy management.
Having carefully nursed his battery throughout the race, Edo closed in on the battle for the podium with more usable energy than the cars ahead as the final lap approached.
With everything still to play for, the battle for the win intensified, as race leader Pascal Wehrlein cut the Turn 3 chicane in a desperate attempt to hold off Lucas di Grassi.
Running out of usable energy, Wehrlein slowed dramatically in the final meters of the race, as di Grassi took the chequered flag.
An immediate five-second time penalty for Wehrlein for his corner cut at Turn 3 dropped the Mahindra driver out of the top three with Edo the main benefactor – gaining that all-important extra position to clinch the final podium spot!