Ahead of the first Formula E qualifying session of Season 10, it was Mitch Evans who topped what was a chilly Free Practice 2 on Saturday morning at the Mexico City E-Prix.
The Kiwi looked very impressive as the sun rose in the Mexican capital, with him having topped the second practice session by 0.064s over Maximilian Günther. The Maserati MSG Racing driver did well to break up what would’ve been a Jaguar powertrain 1-2-3, as Robin Frijns ended the session in third, ahead of Nick Cassidy in fourth.
Stoffel Vandoorne did superbly to go fifth-fastest, with Sébastian Buemi, Oliver Rowland, Jean-Éric Vergne, Jake Dennis and Jake Hughes having completed the top 10.
How the session unfolded
After a severely disrupted Free Practice 1 session on Friday evening – the session wasn’t restarted with five minutes remaining following a heavy crash for Hughes – all the drivers went straight out onto what was a very cool Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit to maximise the available running time.
The opening session on the first race day of 2024 took place early on Saturday morning in Mexico City, with the track temperature having been just 13°C at the start of it. Thankfully, the entirety of FP2 was completed without a red flag, something which failed to happen on Friday evening.
Evans was the early pacesetter just like he was in FP1, with his best lap 10 minutes into the session having been just one-tenth of a second slower than Hughes’ leading 1m 14.364s from Friday evening. The Kiwi was quickly displaced though, as the times tumbled below what was achieved in the previous session.
It was Dennis at the top at the 15-minute mark (halfway), courtesy of a 1m 14.221s – the fastest of the weekend at the time. He was closely followed by Sam Bird, both Nissan Formula E Team drivers and, remarkably, Nico Müller. The track ramped up massively throughout the session, with Evans having been the first driver of the event to move into the high 1m 13s.
Evans set a strong 1m 13.809s lap with just under 10 minutes remaining, before Rowland moved into second after going just a tenth of a second slower than the Kiwi. A couple of minutes later and Evans went even faster, courtesy of a mega 1m 13.626s.
Elsewhere, a yellow flag was required after Sérgio Sette Câmara went into the wall at Turn 14. He safely continued. The Jaguar powertrain is clearly working well in the Mexican capital, as the British manufacturer slotted into a 1-2-3-5 with two minutes remaining in the session.
There were several improvements in the final minute of practice, with Evans having gone two-hundredths of a second quicker to top the session. Günther broke the Jaguar 1-2-3 with his final lap, although they still managed a 1-3-4-6. Concerningly, both TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team drivers were outside the top 10.
The field was so tight together though, as just 1.132s separated Evans in first to Nyck de Vries in 22nd.
Qualifying is the next time the cars will hit the track, at 15:40 GMT.
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