Norman Nato topped Free Practice 2 on Friday afternoon at the Diriyah E-Prix, courtesy of a solid 1m 13.584s.
The Frenchman set the quickest lap of the session ahead of qualifying on his final venture around the circuit, narrowly beating Maximilian Günther and Andretti teammate Jake Dennis. Behind the reigning World Champion in fourth was Sébastian Buemi and Mitch Evans, meaning four different powertrains featured in the top five.
Stoffel Vandoorne finished sixth ahead of Free Practice 1’s fastest driver Oliver Rowland. Sacha Fenestraz secured eighth ahead of a surprising P9 for Lucas di Grassi. Nick Cassidy finished 10th. Concerningly, Mexico City winner Pascal Wehrlein could only manage a worrying P15, seven-tenths of a second behind Nato.
What happened in FP2
FP2 got underway in baking heat, significantly warmer than Free Practice 1 which took place on Thursday evening when the temperature started to cool. With qualifying taking place in similar conditions to FP2 rather than FP1, it was a crucial session to get the cars in the right window.
A key feature about Thursday evening’s session was how dusty the circuit was; however, it had cleaned up significantly for Friday, thankfully. Because of this, it only took 10 minutes for times to fall below what was set in the slow first session of the weekend. Dennis was the early pacesetter, courtesy of a 1m 15.067s.
The times continued to tumble as the session developed, something which was unsurprising given that the circuit was described by Neom McLaren Team Principal Ian James as being the slipperiest its ever been ahead of an E-Prix. One driver who was trying to make up for lost time was Buemi, who caused a red flag in FP1.
Buemi suffered from an RESS issue, resulting in a new battery being fitted. Cassidy also had parts of his powertrain changed ahead of FP2, as a precaution by the factory Jaguar outfit. In terms of track action, Dennis was still the fastest driver as the final practice session ahead of the first race entered the last 10 minutes.
With six minutes remaining, he topped the session on a 1m 13.687s, ahead of Edoardo Mortara, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Dan Ticktum, in what was a surprising top four. In all fairness to ERT Formula E Team, their one-lap pace looks very promising in Diriyah. The timesheets changed with every single lap though, highlighting the rapid improvement of the track surface.
One driver who was struggling is Evans, who complained over the radio of not feeling confident in his Jaguar I-TYPE 6. Despite lacking confidence, he still finished the session in the top 10.
It looked for all the world like Dennis would top the session; however, his teammate and Günther pipped him on their final hot lap, with Nato topping the session from the Maserati driver.
