FP1-
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans went fastest in the first session of the day, with a time of 1m13.361s. Stoffel Vandoorne was 0.126s behind him. Maximilian Guenther finished in third.
The session was quickly under yellow flags as the Avalanche Andretti of Andre Lotterer had an unusual off at Mirabeau. The car and driver were unharmed, all Porsche-powered cars were grounded for the first half of the session, which quickly got resolved.
Regular running resumed most of the session, with the drivers wanting to get as much track time as possible around the iconic circuit.
However, Mahindra Racing’s Lucas di Grassi brought out yellow flags as he spun at Sainte-Devote. As well as locking up and damaging his front wing, di Grassi struggled to get going but eventually limped back to the garage.
FP2-
Maximilian Guenther kept Maserati MSG Racing’s home crowd happy in the final session before qualifying. With a time of 1m.29.269s, which was already six-tenths quicker than Mitch Evans times needed for the Julius Baer Pole Position here last year.
Behind Guenther was Evans, who topped the timesheets in FP1 the +0.007s difference just shows how tight the competition is. Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis finished in third.
Unlike Free Practice 1, all cars were quickly out on track for the day’s second session. Berlin race winner, Nick Cassidy had limited running after he complained about massive vibrations under braking on the radio. He eventually got back out on track but finished the session in 21st.
Qualifying-
It was a battle of the rookies for the finals, as Fenestraz and Hughes went up against each other for Julius Baer Pole Position. It was Sacha Fenestraz who grabbed pole as the McLaren driver made a mistake coming out of the tunnel, but the Nissan driver had his lap time cancelled for power usage, so Jake Hughes will be starting on pole position.
The DS Penske duo of Jean Eric Vergne and Vandoorne went quickest at the start of Group A. However, both were placed under investigation for a technical infringement and pitted soon after. In the end, neither of them made it through to the Duels and eventually their lap times were all cancelled as a result of a tyre pressure violation.
Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, the winner here in Monaco in Season 7 had a disastrous start to his session, after reporting front left damage, which resulted in him making a quick stop in his teams garage.
The full top 10 are: Pole: Hughes, P2: Fenestraz, P3: Nato, P4: Guenther, P5: Ticktum, P6: Evans, P7: Mortara, P8: Sette Camara, P9: Cassidy and P10: Lotterer.
Round 9-
Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing fired to the top of the ABB FIA Formula E World Champiosnhip with a storming drive from ninth on the grid to the race win in an absorbing 2023 Monaco E-Prix.
Cassidy led home Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) having fended off his countryman until a late race Safety Car made the win certain for the Envision racer. Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) couldn’t quite live with the lead pair, but he drove from 11th on the grid to grab the final podium spot.
Long time Drivers’ World Championship leader, Pascal Wehrlein could only improve to 11th from 12th at the outset – the Porsche 99X Electric still has the performance within but unlocking it consistently over a lap and in qualifying appears to be an ongoing and potentially costly issue.
With 21 laps in the books, Guenther’s car came to a halt at Casino Square – Ticktum having moved to defend in front of the Maserati MSG Racing driver and the German driver running squarely into the back of the NIO 333.
The full top 10 are: P1: Cassidy, P2: Evans, P3: Dennis, P4: Fenestraz, P5: Hughes, P6: Ticktum, P7: Vergne, P8: Buemi, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Bird.
We now have a little wait until the next race, with just under 4 weeks till the Jakarta E-Prix for Round 11 & 10 on the 3rd and 4th of June.
Jordan's Track Talk 
Leave a comment