FP1-
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans was the quickest person on track during the first free practice session in Shanghai, as the grid was separated by just over half a second.
The Jaguar team looked strong throughout the session, which was disrupted by a technical problem for several cars.
Just behind Evans, was the Andretti of Norman Nato, with his championship winning teammate Jake Dennis down in 14th. DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne found himself rounding out the top three in third.
No sooner we had the 30 minute session got going it was brought under red flag conditions after several cars stopped on track. Both the Porsche and ERT’s as well as Nyck de Vries all had to be recovered from the Shanghai circuit for the technical problem.
FP2-
Andretti’s Norman Nato and DS PENSKE’s Jean-Eric Vergne both set an identical time to top the running in Free Practice 2 ahead of the Shanghai E-Prix Round 11.
Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein’s second in the standings and just 0.013s back in third.
The fast sweeping corners in Shanghai made things difficult for the drivers, with plenty of correction on the steering wheel to keep things in order.
Engineers will be busy getting the setup right for their drivers, and making sure all the simulator work tallies with how things felt for real on track.
Qualifying-
DS PENSKE’s Jean-Eric Vergne will be starting the inaugural Shanghai E-Prix from the front of the grid as he secured the Julius Baer Pole Position in China.
The close qualifying battle saw all the drivers fight their was around the popular Shanghai International Circuit to sort the starting grid for the race.
Going up against Oliver Rowland in the Nissan, this pole position now sees Vergne equal the Formula E record for the most pole positions – 16 – which ties him with Sebastien Buemi.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Vergne, P2: Rowland, P3: Evans, P4: Wehrlein, P5: Hughes, P6: Da Costa, P7: Nato, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Frijns and P10: Cassidy.
Round 11-
Polesitter Vergne launched cleanly and into Turn 1 while Rowland bogged down from second passed immediately by Wehrlein and Evans.
Wehrlein was the first driver to take his first mandatory Attack Mode power boost – only he and Rowland jumping for it of the top 10 runners on lap 3.
Robin Frijns briefly found himself in P1, before he took an initial two-minute Attack Mode boost, handing the lead back to Wehrlein.
The Porsche’s teamwork continued as da Costa hit the front at the start of lap 5, before taking his attack mode activation, and dropping behind teammate Wehrlein.
Jaguar’s Evans fired himself into the top three on lap 7, splitting the Porsches with a move through Turn 1 and a lap later, the Kiwi then took the lead.
The top six looked the place to be with the pack jostling to hit that front quarter of the field, steering clear of the mid-pack melee and positioning themselves for a potential podium push.
Evans led once again on lap 13, with the Porsches and Vergne still in that top four biding their time and waiting for their moment.
The top 10 runners at the half-way stage had all used boosts, except reigning champion Dennis.
Berlin winner, Cassidy found himself in the top six and two percent of usable energy to the good.
The Porsche pair, Wehrlein from da Costa, swept back to the lead on lap 16, by Evans – the Jaguar driver their closest company, though absolutely nothing split the field.
However, on lap 19, Evans had a percent of energy in-hand and managed to slice by da Costa through Sector 1, while the sister Jaguar TCS Racing of Cassidy had two percent energy over the leaders.
Wehrlein outbraked himself into the hairpin, allowing Evans to pounce and bolt into the lead, while Dennis finally went for Attack mode and made it into third.
Wehrlein had it all on to hold P1, with all of the defensive moves in the book on show but into Turn 1 of the final lap, Evans broke the German’s resistance right around the outside of Turn 1.
The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Wehrlein, P3: Cassidy, P4: Rowland, P5: Dennis, P6: Vergne, P7: De Vries, P8: Buemi, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Di Grassi.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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