Reigning Formula 2 World Champion Felipe Drugovich topped the Rome E-Prix rookie session for Maserati, ahead of Sheldon van der Linde and Luca Ghiotto.
The special rookie practice session at the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR represented an excellent opportunity for 11 drivers to experience Gen3 machinery, something which is invaluable for those targeting a Formula E seat in 2024. Each team was allowed to field one driver who hadn’t raced in the all-electric series before, similar to the test in Berlin which featured 23 drivers.
Out of the 11 drivers taking part, 10 of them participated in the recent rookie test in Berlin, with the exception being DS Penske’s representative, Yann Ehrlacher. His opening laps in the Italian capital were staggeringly his first in single-seater machinery, with the majority of his career having been spent in touring cars.
Reigning F2 World Champion and Aston Martin F1 reserve driver Drugovich was the early pacesetter in the 30-minute session, after posting a 1:48.092 in the opening 10 minutes for Maserati.
Somewhat concerningly, F2 driver Jehan Daruvala completed an out-lap before immediately returning to the pits for Mahindra, as did Adrien Tambay for ABT CUPRA – Mahindra’s customer team. There was also an early moment for Porsche driver Yifei Ye, who ran on at Turn 7 after hitting a bump awkwardly, resulting in a lock-up.
As the session moved into its second half, reigning DTM Champion Van der Linde displaced Drugovich at the top of the timesheets after setting a 1:46.466. Van der Linde is the brother of Kelvin van der Linde, who replaced Robin Frijns whilst the Dutchman was recovering from his hand injury earlier in the season.
The circuit was clearly cleaning up very quickly, as the times tumbled in the closing 10 minutes. Van der Linde shaved two seconds off his best time with nine minutes remaining, whilst Ehrlacher moved to within seven-tenths of the South African in second.
Drugovich sat in third with seven minutes remaining and was just over a second behind Van der Linde, whilst Jack Aitken sat in ninth and last for Envision – 3.977s off the leading pace. There was still no sign of Daruvala or Tambay as the session approached its close, suggesting that there is yet another problem with the Mahindra-powered cars.
Van der Linde improved once again with three minutes remaining to a 1:44.048, whilst McLaren’s Charlie Eastwood elevated himself into second. Eastwood’s time was very impressive, with it having been just over a tenth slower than Van der Linde’s.
Whilst Van der Linde, Eastwood and Ehrlacher were all setting great times, Daniil Kvyat brought out a brief yellow flag. The ex-Formula 1 driver locked-up at Turn 7 just like Ye did earlier in the session, with him having been able to reverse back onto the circuit in similar fashion.
There was a late change at the top as the chequered flag was flown, with Drugovich having become the first rookie to move into the high 1:43s. The Brazilian set a 1:43.736 to end the session as the fastest, three-tenths quicker than Van der Linde who claimed second.
Ex-F2 driver Ghiotto was a further tenth behind in third for Nissan, just three-hundredths of a second faster than Eastwood in fourth. Ehrlacher was six-tenths behind in fifth with Andretti’s Zane Maloney in sixth; however, the Barbadian was 1.292s slower than Drugovich.
Following his late lock-up, Kvyat ended the session in seventh, two-tenths ahead of Ye in eighth. Aitken was the last of the running drivers in ninth, as neither Daruvala or Tambay exited the pits again.
