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London E-Prix: Frijns tops FP2 as Cassidy leads title rivals

Robin Frijns topped the second practice session for the London E-Prix as championship leader Nick Cassidy headed rivals Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein.

Envision’s Frijns set a 1m10.544s that left him 0.118s clear of Oliver Rowland, the Nissan driver making his return to the all-electric championship having missed both races in Portland due to illness.

The second Envision of Sebastien Buemi was third, just 0.017s further back, as all four Jaguar-powered cars finished inside the top seven, confirming that the London ExCeL circuit will suit the British manufacturer.

Keen to make up for his disastrous weekend last time out in Portland, Cassidy occupied the top spot for the opening half of the 30-minute session, initially on a 1m11.382s before lowering his best down to a 1m11.277s.

As the session reached its second phase, title protagonist Wehrlein, who along with Evans sits just 12 points behind Cassidy in the standings, moved to the top having gone quicker by just 0.074s.

It lasted only a matter of moments, though, as both Evans and Frijns demoted the German before Wehrlein put in an impressive reply.

He became the first driver to dip below the 1m11s barrier with a 1m10.781s that left him a quarter of a second clear heading into the final 10 minutes.

Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6 (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

Not to be outdone, Cassidy immediately responded to move back to the top with a 1m10.748s, just 0.033s quicker than Wehrlein.

As track conditions continued to improve, times began to tumble throughout the field as Frijns set what would prove to be the fastest time on Saturday morning with just over five minutes left.

Rowland had earlier suffered a small spin at Turn 19 but with his final effort, he set the fastest opening sector time to jump up into second.

Cassidy’s final effort was scuppered after locking up and running into the run-off area at Turn 1, leaving him fourth and directly ahead of Wehrlein, with reigning champion Jake Dennis sixth and Evans, complaining of car handling over the radio, seventh.

DS Penkse’s Jean-Eric Vergne, who also mathematically has a chance of the title this weekend, had topped Friday afternoon’s FP1 session.

The Frenchman’s 1m11.290s left him just 0.028s clear of Buemi, the Envision driver a further 0.030s ahead of McLaren’s Jake Hughes.

Evans, who earlier in the day had spun harmlessly at the newly reprofiled Turn 16 during shakedown, finished fourth with Cassidy 11th and Wehrlein 13th but all three within half a second of the top time.

Formula E London Practice 2 result

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h
1 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4 21

1'10.544

  109.259
2 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.Dams 22 20

+0.118

1'10.662

0.118 109.077
3 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16 21

+0.135

1'10.679

0.017 109.050
4 New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37 21

+0.204

1'10.748

0.069 108.944
5 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94 22

+0.225

1'10.769

0.021 108.912
6 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1 20

+0.258

1'10.802

0.033 108.861
7 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9 19

+0.292

1'10.836

0.034 108.809
8 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams 23 20

+0.338

1'10.882

0.046 108.738
9 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33 21

+0.362

1'10.906

0.024 108.701
10 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25 19

+0.387

1'10.931

0.025 108.663
11 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8 20

+0.421

1'10.965

0.034 108.611
12 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7 20

+0.455

1'10.999

0.034 108.559
13 Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11 19

+0.468

1'11.012

0.013 108.539
14 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2 19

+0.479

1'11.023

0.011 108.522
15 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17 21

+0.518

1'11.062

0.039 108.463
16 Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48 19

+0.531

1'11.075

0.013 108.443
17 Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51 20

+0.545

1'11.089

0.014 108.421
18 United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5 21

+0.605

1'11.149

0.060 108.330
19 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13 17

+0.743

1'11.287

0.138 108.120
20 Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21 19

+0.855

1'11.399

0.112 107.951
21 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18 20

+0.883

1'11.427

0.028 107.908
22 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3 21

+0.910

1'11.454

0.027 107.867
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