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Diriyah E-Prix: Nato pips Guenther to fastest time in FP2

Guenther NATO Jake Dennis Pascal Wehrlein Edoardo Mortara Oliver Rowland Sam Bird Sebastien Buemi N Cassidy Jaguar Racing Nissan

With conditions constantly improving at the Saudi Arabian street circuit it was the final efforts which proved crucial as Nato jumped to the top of the times with a 1m13.584s as the chequered flag was shown. 

Moments earlier Maserati MSG’s Guenther had gone fastest, usurping reigning champion Jake Dennis who had lingered towards the top of the times throughout the 30-minute session. 

The Andretti driver became the first driver to dip below the 1m16s mark, posting a 1m15.710s inside the first 10 minutes before lowering his personal best to a 1m15.067s with his next effort. 

It left the Briton more than a second clear of Sam Bird’s McLaren in second with Bird’s team-mate Jake Hughes third. 

Pascal Wehrlein became the second driver to post a time below the 1m16s barrier, setting a 1m15.706s which was still some 0.639s behind Dennis at the head of the field. 

Approaching the halfway point, Wehrlein’s Porsche team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa moved into second ahead of Robin Frijns, the Envision driver having taken to the Turn 18 run-off in the opening minutes. 

Nick Cassidy posted a 1m14.723s to go top but the Jaguar driver’s effort was immediately beaten by the Mahindra duo of Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries. 

Mortara’s 1m14.438s stood as the best time until there was only nine minutes left before Dennis vaulted back to the top with a 1m13.687s and only failed to improve on his next effort due to traffic. 

Rowland topped the times for Nissan in Thursday evening's FP1 (Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images)

Dennis’s effort would stand as the best in the session until the final moments before Guenther and team-mate Nato surpassed him. 

Sebastien Buemi (Envision), Mitch Evans (Jaguar) and Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske) completed the top six, which were covered by just over two tenths, with Mexico City E-Prix winner Wehrlein 15th and 0.742s back. 

Oliver Rowland topped Thursday evening’s FP1 session, setting a 1m15.400s on his final effort which left him 0.165s clear of Jean-Eric Vergne, with the second DS Penske of Vandoorne 0.042s further back. 

Dennis, Sergio Sette Camara (ERT) and Evans completed the top six in a session which was held in the cooler night time conditions in which this evening’s race will take place. 

The session was also extended by approximately 12 minutes after a red flag and lengthy delay to recover Buemi’s stricken Envision, with the team forced to change the battery and other related parts prior to FP2. 

Diriyah E-Prix - FP2 results:

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h
1 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17 19

1'13.584

   122.015
2 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7 19

+0.031

1'13.615

 0.031 121.964
3 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1 18

+0.103

1'13.687

 0.072 121.845
4 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16 20

+0.168

1'13.752

 0.065 121.737
5 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9 16

+0.202

1'13.786

 0.034 121.681
6 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2 18

+0.204

1'13.788

 0.002 121.678
7 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.Dams 22 18

+0.295

1'13.879

 0.091 121.528
8 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams 23 20

+0.343

1'13.927

 0.048 121.449
9 Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11 17

+0.425

1'14.009

 0.082 121.314
10 New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37 20

+0.468

1'14.052

 0.043 121.244
11 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33 19

+0.628

1'14.212

 0.160 120.983
12 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25 19

+0.647

1'14.231

 0.019 120.952
13 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8 20

+0.669

1'14.253

 0.022 120.916
14 Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51 19

+0.682

1'14.266

 0.013 120.895
15 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94 19

+0.742

1'14.326

 0.060 120.797
16 United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5 21

+0.820

1'14.404

 0.078 120.670
17 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3 20

+0.837

1'14.421

 0.017 120.643
18 Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48 15

+0.854

1'14.438

 0.017 120.615
19 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4 20

+0.911

1'14.495

 0.057 120.523
20 Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21 18

+1.019

1'14.603

 0.108 120.349
21 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18 19

+1.368

1'14.952

 0.349 119.788
22 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13 19

+1.432

1'15.016

 0.064 119.686
View full results  

Diriyah E-Prix - FP1 results:

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.Dams 22 19

1'15.400

   119.076
2 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25 19

+0.165

1'15.565

 0.165 118.816
3 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2 19

+0.207

1'15.607

 0.042 118.750
4 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1 18

+0.442

1'15.842

 0.235 118.382
5 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3 19

+0.467

1'15.867

 0.025 118.343
6 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9 21

+0.666

1'16.066

 0.199 118.034
7 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13 21

+0.702

1'16.102

 0.036 117.978
8 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94 21

+0.764

1'16.164

 0.062 117.882
9 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7 20

+0.830

1'16.230

 0.066 117.780
10 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4 21

+0.956

1'16.356

 0.126 117.586
11 New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37 21

+1.054

1'16.454

 0.098 117.435
12 Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48 19

+1.099

1'16.499

 0.045 117.366
13 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17 19

+1.208

1'16.608

 0.109 117.199
14 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams 23 19

+1.417

1'16.817

 0.209 116.880
15 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8 19

+1.606

1'17.006

 0.189 116.593
16 Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51 19

+1.912

1'17.312

 0.306 116.132
17 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33 20

+1.936

1'17.336

 0.024 116.095
18 Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11 20

+2.355

1'17.755

 0.419 115.470
19 United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5 20

+2.378

1'17.778

 0.023 115.436
20 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18 20

+2.440

1'17.840

 0.062 115.344
21 Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21 18

+2.504

1'17.904

 0.064 115.249
22 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16 10

+5.627

1'21.027

 3.123 110.807
View full results  

 

 

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