Shanghai E-Prix: Nato and Vergne share FP2 top spot, cause of software issue revealed

The Frenchmen finished joint fastest in Saturday morning’s FP2 after both the Andretti and DS Penske drivers posted a 1m13.430s.

Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein took third only 0.013s adrift and ahead of the second DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries, as less than six tenths covered all 22 drivers.

After the opening 10 minutes Envision’s Sebastien Buemi topped the order with a 1m13.696s around the Shanghai International Circuit, which is hosting Formula E for the first time this weekend but on a shorter layout than the Formula 1 grand prix layout.

Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz dropped the best time down to a 1m13.552s which sat as the fastest heading past the halfway point of the 30-minute session, before Mahindra’s de Vries lowered the mark by 0.002s.

Heading into the final 10 minutes, Nato moved to the top with a 1m13.430s that was identically matched by Jean-Eric Vergne moments later and finished as the session best.

Current championship leader Nick Cassidy claimed ninth, as McLaren’s Sam Bird finished 21st on his return to racing this weekend after recovering from his broken hand.

There was no stoppage during the session, which was in stark contrast to Friday evening’s session which was halted by almost an hour due to a widespread software issue.

Marshals clear the car of Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images)

This was after both Porsches of Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa, both ERT’s of Sergio Sette Camara and Dan Ticktum, as well as Mahindra's de Vries all came to halt on circuit inside five minutes of running.

All five cars had to be recovered back to the pits on the back of a flatbed truck, with the issue traced back to a new software update by battery supplier WAE that was applied ahead of the weekend.

After all cars underwent another update, reverting back to previous software, the session resumed without any further problems.

“An issue with the battery software was quickly identified and successfully addressed to allow for the session to resume,” said an FIA spokesperson.

Autosport understands that the software issue related to a safety setting where the threshold was set too low and which triggered in several cars, causing them to come to a halt on track.

Shanghai E-Prix FP2 result

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	N. Nato Andretti Formula E	17		21	1'13.430		149.579
2	J. Vergne DS Penske	25		19	+0.000 1'13.430	0.000	149.579
3	P. Wehrlein Porsche Team	94		19	+0.013 1'13.443	0.013	149.552
4	S. Vandoorne DS Penske	2		19	+0.105 1'13.535	0.092	149.365
5	N. de Vries Mahindra Racing	21		17	+0.120 1'13.550	0.015	149.335
6	S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams	23		17	+0.122 1'13.552	0.002	149.331
7	A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team	13		20	+0.131 1'13.561	0.009	149.312
8	R. Frijns Envision Racing	4		19	+0.185 1'13.615	0.054	149.203
9	N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing	37		16	+0.204 1'13.634	0.019	149.164
10	M. Gunther Maserati Racing	7		16	+0.217 1'13.647	0.013	149.138
11	N. Müller Team Abt	51		19	+0.227 1'13.657	0.010	149.118
12	M. Evans Jaguar Racing	9		19	+0.251 1'13.681	0.024	149.069
13	J. Dennis Andretti Formula E	1		19	+0.256 1'13.686	0.005	149.059
14	S. Buemi Envision Racing	16		20	+0.266 1'13.696	0.010	149.039
15	L. di Grassi Team Abt	11		19	+0.316 1'13.746	0.050	148.938
16	O. Rowland Nissan e.Dams	22		17	+0.326 1'13.756	0.010	148.918
17	D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team	33		20	+0.391 1'13.821	0.065	148.786
18	S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team	3		19	+0.445 1'13.875	0.054	148.678
19	E. Mortara Mahindra Racing	48		19	+0.478 1'13.908	0.033	148.611
20	J. Daruvala Maserati Racing	18		21	+0.534 1'13.964	0.056	148.499
21	S. Bird McLaren	8		17	+0.564 1'13.994	0.030	148.439
22	J. Hughes McLaren	5		17	+0.572 1'14.002	0.008	148.423
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