Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein set the fastest time in Formula E practice for the Diriyah E-Prix, a 1:07.215 — over a second faster than the fastest time in yesterday’s qualifying for race 1.
Jean-Eric Vergne was second fastest, 0.241 off the German. Oliver Rowland, fastest in both practice sessions for race 1 but crashed out of the race yesterday, was third fastest for Mahindra.
Edo Mortara was fourth, with Antonio Felix da Costa fifth. Jake Dennis, who started on the front row for race 1, was sixth, while Andre Lotterer was seventh quickest, over half a second off his leading teammate.
World champion Nyck de Vries was eighth fastest, with Sebastien Buemi, who struggled for pace yesterday, in ninth. Robin Frijns rounded out the top 10, the fastest of the Envision cars.
Mitch Evans was 11th quickest for Jaguar, while Lucas di Grassi set the 12th fastest time. Stoffel Vandoorne, yesterday’s pole sitter, was 13th, while Maximillian Gunther was 14th for Nissan, his new team.
Sam Bird was 15th quickest after finishing fourth yesterday, with Alexander Sims 16th.
Oliver Askew was 17th for Andretti, after finishing an impressive ninth on his Formula E debut yesterday. Sergio Sette Camara was 18th for Dragon Penske Autosport, with his new teammate Antonio Giovinazzi in 19th.
Nick Cassidy crashed at turn 11 and caused a brief red flag, which saw the half hour session extended by 10 minutes. He could only manage 20th, and his Envision team will have a task to get his car ready for qualifying.
The two Nio 333 cars of Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum backed up the grid in 21st and 22nd respectively.
Qualifying for race 2 of the Diriyah E-Prix will start at 12:30 GMT.
