FP1-
TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa was the quickest guy on track for the first Free Practice Session for the 2024 Sun Minimeal Berlin E-Prix.
Getting to grips with the new layout at the iconic Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit, with the Season 6 champion joined by ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara and the DS PESNKE of Stoffel Vandoorne in the top three.
There was also some early drama as championship leader Pascal Wehrlein came to a dramatic halt a few minutes into the session.
The German was forced to jump out of the car before even setting a time, not the ideal start to his and the team’s home race weekend.
The super substitutes made the most of the running, with Joel Eriksson being the fastest of the bunch, who has experience in Formula E with eight race starts to his name.
Ten minutes was left of the session, and the grid was separated by a second from Dennis to McLaren’s Taylor Barnard.
FP2-
Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilan Guenther was top of the timesheets in the final free practice session before qualifying.
Guenther was able to set a time of 1m 02.177s in the final moments of the 30 minute session to give his home crowd something to cheer about.
Just behind him was the ABT of Lucas di Grassi, and Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein in third after a technical issue in FP1.
Making the most of the last practice session before qualifying, drivers were pushing their cars to the limits. Yet, one going a bit too much was Envision’s Joel Eriksson who clipped the wall on one of his runs.
With ten minutes left on the clock, a brief red flag was deployed to collect a rogue advertising banner, however teams were quickly sent back out again.
Qualifying-
Edoardo Mortara sparked delight in the Mahindra Racing garage, as the Swiss-French-Italian steered to Julius Baer Pole Position and the team’s first points of the season.
Nothing split Mortara and Vandoorne over more than half of the lap at the reconfigured Tempelhof circuit.
Two thirds of the lap were down before the two could be separated – with the Mahindra Racing driver pulling out a couple of tenths over the DS racer.
Some big names were knocked out in the Groups, including Antonio Felix da Costa, Mitch Evans, Jake Dennis and Nick Cassidy.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Mortara, P2: Vandoorne, P3: Vergne, P4: Sette Camara, P5: Guenther, P6: Wehrlein, P7: Daruvala, P8: Di Grassi, P9: Da Costa and P10: Cassidy.
Round 9-
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy produced a stunning comeback drive having slipped to 21st at the half-way stage, to take the chequered flag first and the race win.
Mortara covered off Vandoorne into Turn 1 as the pack filtered through unscathed – only Sette Camara of the top six made moves, passing Vergne for third at the final corner but only temporarily.
Once the first round of Attack Mode shook out, Vergne led Vandoorne, with the DS pair working in tandem to maximise efficiency while keeping track position. The Porsche pair of Wehrlein and da Costa followed.
At a quarter race distance, Vergne led Vandoorne, Wehrlein, Mortara, da Costa and Sette Camara the top six while Joel Eriksson’s Envision was recovered under a full course yellow then a safety car – the Swede clipping the wall and breaking his right-rear suspension.
On lap 17, the race went green once again, with the lead a fluid concept between any of four cars out front as the second round of attack mode activations began.
Mortara hit the front once again as the race hit lap 22, before being passed again by early leaders Vergne and Wehrlein, with da Costa third on lap 24.
Jake Dennis, meanwhile had clambered from the back of the pack to eighth with as much as six percentage points of energy in-hand on some of the leaders.
Less than a second split the top eight with 27 laps down. Wehrlein and da Costa were the current leaders, though things were changing by the sector.
Guenther’s forward foray came to an abrupt end, as contact with Hughes on lap 30 speared the Maserati into the wall and out of the race- which then required a second appearance for the Porsche Safety Car.
Evans led things away on lap 34, with Wehrlein holding off Rowland before the Yorkshireman fired it up the inside of the Porsche and Evans for the lead at the hairpin before da Costa sliced by just a turn later.
Dennis ran deep into the hairpin on lap 36, losing four spots and ultimately having to pit due to a right-front puncture having come into close contact with da Costa’s Porsche.
With six laps left and energy in-hand, having driven from 20th on the grid, it proved to be a super costly coming together.
Six laps were added for those spells under caution, and Evans headed the way from Vergne – having taken his remaining Attack Mode.
Every corner seemed to be three-wide for the lead and beyond as the laps ticked away.
Cassidy meanwhile, had come for nowhere – 21st on lap 21, having slipped down from ninth – to take second from Rowland with just three laps left to run and hit the front.
From there, he bolted – the Jaguar driver some 1.5 seconds quicker than Vergne behind and striding to a two-second advantage out-front as second to eighth squabbled.
The full top 10 are- P1: Cassidy, P2: Vergne, P3: Rowland, P4: Evans, P5: Wehrlein, P6: Da Costa, P7: Vandoorne, P8: Mortara, P9: Fenestraz and P10: Barnard.
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