 Born in São Paulo, di Grassi began racing karts at the age of ten, and achieved early success in the regional and later national kart series.He progressed to car racing in 2002 and was the runner up in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil and Formula 3 Sudamericana championships.Di Grassi took two consecutive victories in the 2004 British Formula Three Championship and progressed to the Euro Series the following year which saw him clinch a solitary race victory and was the winner of the non-championship Macau Grand Prix.