FP1-
The DS PENSKE duo of Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne dominated the timesheets in first and second positions during the championship’s first visit to Misano.
After lending out their cars for the Rookie Free Practice earlier in the afternoon our Season 10 grid made their way out onto the Misano circuit for their first in-car experience of the weekend.
The session was filled with drivers exploring the limits, as they prepare for the double-header of Round 6 and 7.
But there was troubles down at Mahindra Racing which saw home hero, Edoardo Mortara unable to set a single lap. With Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther facing problems during the first practice aswell.
FP2-
DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne made it two for two, topping the second Free Practice session of the weekend in Misano. The two-time Formula E Champion went quicker than his time in FP1, setting a benchmark of 1:17.482.
NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes finished just 0.020s behind Vergne to claim second, with Sebastien Buemi in third.
The session was impacted by a red flag for the ERT of Sergio Sette Camara who came to a stop on track. Not only this, it ended with a big incident for championship contender Nick Cassidy of Jaguar TCS Racing.
Cassidy ran off the track, through a gravel trap and ended his session in a tyre barrier to avoid the NEOM McLaren of Sam Bird.
Track limits have been a popular topic of discussion this weekend, with 24 lap times being deleted over yesterday’s first free practice. One driver who appears to be finding it tough is Reigning World Champion Jake Dennis, the Andretti driver had eight track limit violations yesterday, and things didn’t look better this morning.
Qualifying-
Jean-Eric Vergne continued his strong run of form, as he topped another session in Misano. Joining JEV in the Duels was the TAG Heuer Porsche Pascal Wehrlein who ended the session second, with Oliver Rowland and Maximilian Guenther being the fastest four in the group.
In Group B, with NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes going quickest of 11 drivers. Hughes has experience racing round Misano in junior categories, and was 0.163s ahead of Mitch Evans in second.
Hughes’ teammate Sam Bird also flew into the Duels in third and ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller making it to the Duels, a third consecutive appearance.
First up in the quarters was Nissan’s Oliver Rowland and Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein. Rowland has taken pole on both occasions he has reached the Duels stage this year. But it was Wehrlein who managed to finish ahead, with Rowland making a few small mistakes on his way to missing out on the Semi’s.
Next it was Vergne and Guenther, with JEV continuing his streak of topping every session of the weekend, which continued as Guenther made an error on his lap.
But it was Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans who scored pole, which is his seventh Julius Baer Pole Position, in which he took on the DS PENSKE of Jean-Eric Vergne in an intense finale.
The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Vergne, P3: Wehrlein, P4: Muller, P5: Rowland, P6: Bird, P7: Guenther, P8: Cassidy, P9: Frijns and P10: Buemi.
Round 6-
Antonio Felix da Costa qualified 13th and timed his push to perfection to take the race lead for the definitive time with three laps to go, from form man Oliver Rowland.
From there, he was able to hold off the advances of Rowland to the chequered flag while Reigning Champion Jake Dennis clambered from a lowly 17th on the grid to complete the podium.
As early as Lap 5, da Costa had made his way through the tightest of pack – with all 22 cars split by less than five seconds for much of the encounter – to the podium positions, trailing teammate Wehrlein on Lap 5.
At a circuit like Misano, energy was always going to be on the drivers’ and engineers’ minds with cars starting the encounter with between 60 and 70% of the usable energy needed to finish the race – the rest recovered by regenerative braking.
The concertinaing field always looked like it would catch driver out, as five wide through Turn 1 proving too much to handle with an early leader in Sam Bird, Nick Cassidy and Wehrlein among those suffering damage – race ending damage for the former pair.
With eight laps remaining, Da Costa inherited the lead again but Rowland wouldn’t back off – as the Nissan driver jumped the Porsche on lap 23 for P1.
From there, the race was a straight contest to the finish with drivers bolting for the chequered flag – energy calculations measured to the tenth of a percentage point opening up a flat out finish.
On the outside of Turn 5, with three laps to go, da Costa swooped by Rowland for first while Jean-Eric Vergne, Dennis and Guenther battled in behind.
It was Da Costa who led Rowland home for his first win of the season, and Jake Dennis pipped Vergne for third.
However, Formula E isn’t Formula E without someone being penalised… Antonio Felix da Costa has been disqualified from the Misano E-Prix Round 6 as the throttle damper spring on his car was not found in conformity with one of the three optional declared items.
As a result, the cars beneath da Costa in the original race classification move up a slot, meaning Nissan’s Oliver Rowland inherits the race win.
The full top 10 are- P1: Rowland, P2: Dennis, P3: Guenther, P4: Ticktum, P5: Evans, P6: Vergne, P7: Nato, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Fenestraz and P10: Di Grassi.
Jordan's Track Talk 
Leave a comment