Round 2 is complete, lets take a look at all the action from our first race of the double header.
FP1-
A little bit of rain didn’t dampen an action-packed Free Practice 1, with Jaguar TCS Racing’s Sam Bird topping the timesheets.
Less than a second split the top 10 runners, with DS PENSKE’s Jean-Eric Vergne slotting himself into second and his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne placing himself in fourth. Mitch Evans crossed the line third to make it a one-three result for team.
There was early drama as Rast was attempting to pass the reigning champion, but ended up making contact with Vandoorne’s car.
FP2-
Dan Ticktum led the pack with a time of 1m 10.099s – the first time he’s topped a Formula E session. The Briton also made an impressive 0.202s gap to Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi in second place behind.
The Jaguar TCS Racing powertains looked strong, Mitch Evans crossed the chequered flag third, and teammate Sam Bird followed in fifth.
Unfortunately for the ABT CUPRA of Nico Mueller, his session was brought to a half after whacking his Gen3 machine into a barrier. The heavy damage, which was sustained to the rear left of the car, saw him immediately forced to pull over and come to a stop.
Qualifying-
Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi fired to Julius Baer Pole Position for his 100th Formula E race at the CORE Diriyah E-Prix – Round 2, as he beat rookie, Jake Hughes at the last minute.
Hughes was told to push harder on his outlap to get the temperature up to a more optimal temp, he earlier pipped third-placed Dan Ticktum in the NIO 333 and Lucas Di Grassi (in the quarters).
Hughes hung it all out on his hot lap and over the half way point of the lap there was nothing between either driver… The McLaren racer pulled it out of the bag over the final sector to fend of a determined Buemi but the Swiss bit back, as he went ahead with a perfect Sector 3.
Round 2-
Pascal Wehrlein stormed from ninth to the race win in the 2023 Diriyah E-Prix Round 2, with standings leader Jake Dennis following home in second after working his way through the pack aswell.
The move for the lead came on Lap 30 at Turn 16, with Bird unable to hold back Wehrlein – both driver and car looking monstrous for a second race on the spin.
Dennis in the Porsche-powered Avalanche Andretti took the fight all the way to the line all the way back in 11th on the grid but he couldn’t find a way past the race leader.
Sam Bird was overjoyed to make the podium for the first time since winning in New York City back in Season 7 – calling it a ‘mini victory’ for himself and Jaguar after a tough Season 8 for the Brit.
The full top 10 are: P1: Wehrlein, P2: Dennis, P3: Bird, P4: Buemi, P5: Rast, P6: Cassidy, P7: Vergne, P8: Hughes, P9: Lotterer and P10: Evans.
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