Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans topped the timesheets in the third and final practice session of the Diriyah E-Prix double-header, standing him in good stead ahead of qualifying for the second race of the weekend thanks to a fastest time of 1:10.154s.
The 30-minute FP3 session saw Evans and teammate Nick Cassidy at the top within the first five minutes, before Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, who topped the timesheets in Friday’s opening practice, briefly set the pace with a 1:12.505s, with his teammate Sacha Fenestraz heading the rest of the pack for a Nissan 1-2.
Friday’s pole-sitter Jean-Eric Vergne then pushed the pace further, breaking into the 1:11 barrier, with the top eight up to reigning World Champion and Friday race winner Jake Dennis within the 1:11 fray.
Last year, times crept into the low 1:10s, and the sophomore run of Gen3 machines in Diriyah threatened to do so once again.
That threat was confirmed as Dennis broke into the 1:10s to top the timesheets, before being supplanted by the Envision pairing of Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi.
As the session wound down and the final few minutes were run, the drivers turned up the heat with full power 350Kw quali runs and the times tumbled as a result.
Maserati’s Max Günther 1:10.493s time saw him jump to the top of the leaderboard, a glimpse of the fine form he showed in the Mexico City season-opener, before Buemi and then Evans’ Jaguar bettered his pace.
Evans’ benchmark was 0.208s quicker than second-place Vergne with Günther 0.339s off of the ultimate pace set by the Jaguar driver.
Nissan’s Rowland and Rd2 winner Dennis completed the top five, with Vergne’s DS Penske teammate Stoffel Vandoorne sixth.
Evans’ Jaguar sparring partner Cassidy posted the seventh fastest time, followed by Nissan’s Fenestraz.
The Envision Racing pairing completed the top-10, with Buemi leading Frijns.
Pascal Wehrlein and Porsche were full of confidence after an impressive win in the season-opener, but Diriyah is not proving to be fruitful ground for the pairing.
Wehrlein could only muster the 14th fastest time and teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa propped up the table in 22nd.
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