VENTURI FORMULA E TEAM CELEBRATES THIRD PODIUM OF THE 5th SEASON WITH MASSA's 3rd PLACE IN MONACO HOME RACE

11 May 2019, Monaco – Felipe MASSA brought a return to form for the VENTURI Formula E Team in front of a home crowd at the Monaco E-Prix on Saturday 11th May adding to the team’s silverware the 2018/19 Formula E Championship with a third place on the podium.  After a strong qualifying, MASSA started the ninth race of the season at the iconic Monaco track in fourth position, his third place finish brings another 15 points to the team championship standings. VENTURI President, Monaco-born Gildo PASTOR, who joined the team for the home race staged just ten minutes walk from the team’s HQ, led the charge in congratulating Felipe on his maiden Formula E podium on home turf. MASSA’S Swiss-Italian team mate, Edoardo MORTARA, had a less successful day on the 1.765 km circuit. A frustrating qualifying performance left him at the back of the grid for the start of the race and despite finding good pace from the car, an overtaking incident with MAHINDRA Racing’s Jérôme D’AMBROSIO, damaged his front suspension and  resulted in the untimely end to his race on lap 30. Without doubt MASSA’S performance at this very special home race for the VENTURI Formula E Team has had a significant impact on the morale of the Monegasque team. “It wasn’t a great day for me personally but it was a really good day for the team, so in the end it's positive. I didn't have the pace in Qualifying - I just couldn't get the grip that I wanted and I had some problems on the brakes. When you start at the back here it's difficult to recover although I had some good overtakes early on, it wasn’t enough. But the pace is there in the car, so let's see in the next races if we can qualify further in front and score some big points.” Edoardo MORTARA, VENTURI Formula E Team driver “What a great feeling! Qualifying was fantastic and it was an amazing race too - nice and clean. I’ve had good qualifying results before but something always happened during the race. So far, I’ve never had a completely clean race that allowed me to get the very best from the car. Today we had no mistakes, nothing like someone pushing me out and breaking the car like I had in Hong Kong. It's the best place to do it here in Monaco - the home E-Prix for the team and for me. It was so special being on the podium and seeing my son screaming for me - that's a great feeling. Looking at these kind of things just makes you feel so proud. I'm doing what I love to do and having the results too is always the best achievement. Our Monegasque President Gildo was understandably emotional after the race, it’s a big day for him too and I’m very happy that we could share it together. I want to say a huge thank you to the fans as well, the atmosphere was incredible. I hope this is a sign of more good things to come for me.”  Felipe MASSA, VENTURI Formula E Team driver “We're incredibly happy with Felipe’s result. Our Headquarters is just over the rock, so to be on the podium at our home race in Monaco, with our President, Gildo Pastor here and the incredible local support, makes a very special day for us. Definitely one not to forget. Felipe did a fantastic job, the team have worked really hard and I’m very proud of them. Felipe’s shown so much promise over the last races but hasn't quite made it to that podium finish, so to do it here in Monaco - his first podium in Formula E - is fantastic and very well-deserved. It's just what we needed. We had so much momentum in the middle of the season so it's great to be back up there. Now we really want to finish the European season with a strong few races in the lead up to the season finale in New York.”