Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Diriyah E-Prix

  • RND 2 – Diriyah E-Prix

    FP1-

    Nissan’s Oliver Rowland went quickest in the Diriyan desert, as the grid prepared to take on the first double header of the season.

    Track evolution meant that the times kept tumbling, although the session was brought to a brief halt as the Envision Racing car of Sebastien Buemi stopped on track.

    Jean Eric-Vergne for DS PENSKE finished the session in second 0.165s behind Rowland, with his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne popping into third.

    The Envision Racing duo of Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns were the first to set the lap times, but quickly the rest of the grid followed. Reigning champion, Jake Dennis was the last to get a time in, but it didn’t impact his session as he finished in the top five.

    Just over halfway through the session, double yellow flags were waved as Buemi came to a stop on the circuit between Turns 3 and 4. He made his way back to the garage, but his car was in a red condition which meant extra precautions had to be taken to remove it from the track.
    As a result of the delay, the session was extended by 12 minutes by the FIA to make sure the drivers got as many laps on the board as possible.

    FP2-

    Andretti’s Norman Nato topped the timesheets in the second Free Practice session, as the drivers took to the epic Diriyah track in the midday sun.
    His teammate, Jake Dennis finished third, with Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther sandwiched between the two in second.

    Teams and drivers headed out in the midday sun to get as much track time and data as they could. Track evolution continues to be rapid here, as the dirt and dust from the desert is kicked up by the grid as they fly around this 2.49km circuit.

    Jake Dennis topped the timesheets with a 1m15.067s as he set the three fastest sectors with 18 minutes to go, and continued to keep locking in faster laps over the session.

    Both Mahindras were looking rapid, with Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries going first and second with 13 minutes left on the clock. De Vries has won here twice before and Mortara has had some amazing overtakes.

    Qualifying-

    DS PENSKE’s Jean Eric-Vergne sealed Julius Baer Pole Position and jumped up to the top of the Drivers’ standings.

    Vergne went up against the Jaguar TCS Racing of Mitch Evans as both drivers and teams were fighting for their first pole at this circuit.

    Group A, was packed with lots of familiar favourites. However it was Cassidy, Dennis, Wehrlein and Evans who made it through. Last year’s polesitter Jake Hughes looked an early favourite, as he pushed his McLaren to the limit and even clipped the wall slightly to get himself half a second clear.
    However, a second attempt at a fast lap led to Hughes making a mistake and not doing enough to improve on his time to finish fifth in the group.

    Group B, the next group took to track shortly after, with plenty of big names trying to make it through to the Duels.

    In the end it was Vergne who went to the top when the chequered flag fell with a 1m 12.856s. Joining him in the Semi’s was Sette Camara who got ERT’s first Duels appearance of the year, Guenther in third and Nato in fourth.

    The biggest shock of the Group Stages were Antonio Felix da Costa as he finished Group B in ninth. The season 6 champion hasn’t looked completely comfortable in his Porsche so far this weekend, so will hope he can make up some good positions.

    The full top 10 from qualifying are- P1: Vergne, P2: Evans, P3: Dennis, P4: Sette Camara, P5: Nato, P6: Wehrlein, P7: Cassidy, P8: Guenther, P9: Bird and P10: Hughes.

    Round 2-

    Reigning champion, Jake Dennis bounced back from disappointment in the Mexico City season-opener to win by more than 13 seconds in the first round of the Diriyah double-header!

    Polesitter, Jean Eric Vergne had bolted off the line to hold an early lead and was forced into fending off the Jaguar TCS Racing pair of Mitch Ecans and Nick Cassidy as the race reached its climax.

    A last lap lunge from Evans, running third at the time but with second in his sight, cost the Kiwi a podium as he overcooked the stop into Turn 18, handing third to his teammate Cassidy.
    Cassidy, took his own direction on strategy of the leaders, opting to take his two mandatory Attack Mode boosts late on as he clambered through from seventh on the grid at the start.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Dennis, P2: Vergne, P3: Cassidy, P4: Bird, P5: Evans, P6: Nato, P7: Guenther, P8: Wehrlein, P9: Sette Camara and P10: Frijns.

  • Round 2 – Diriyah E-Prix

    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.

  • Diriyah Preview

    The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship heads to Diriyah for Rounds 2 and 3 of Season 9 as we have a pair of night races in Saudi Arabia this weekend.

    The Diriyah Street Circuit, just outside of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, forgoes the permanent circuit layout of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for a full street circuit – snaking the historic city’s walls at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

    Its a second new challenge in as many weeks with the snaking, bumpy bobsleigh run of the Diriyah track a favourite of the drivers – and it’s one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar for balancing energy management and outright pace, through drivers have never found overtaking a problem.

    With 21 twists and turns, the 2.495km Diriyah Street Circuit skirts around the historic World Heritage site. The Drivers face a challenging lap from the finish line as a technical first sector leads into the snaking Bobsleigh Run at Turn 6, a series of fast changes in quick succession.

    diriyah-track-map-details

    Last year’s visit to Diriyah saw De Vries win Round 1, as well as his teammate making a 1-2 for the Mercedes EQ team and Edoardo Mortara then won Round 2.

    Weekend Schedule-

    Thursday 26th-

    • Free Practice 1- 14:55pm – 15:45pm (GMT)

    Friday 27th-

    • Free Practice 2- 10:25am – 11:15am
    • Qualifying- 12:40pm – 13:55pm
    • Round 2- 17:03pm – 18:30pm

    Saturday 28th-

    • Free Practice 3- 10:25am – 11:15am
    • Qualifying- 12:40pm – 13:55pm
    • Round 3- 17:03pm – 18:30pm

  • Van der Linde to step in for Frijns

    Kelvin van der Linde will be making his debut in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Diriyah, with the 26 year-old set to replace Robin Frijns as the Dutchman begins his recovery from an injury to his hand.

    Frijns suffered fractures to his left hand in a collision on the first lap of the Hankook Mexico City E-Prix and underwent surgery that same evening in Mexico.

    Since the decision, van der Linde, who also lives in Kempten, has spent every day from morning until late evening at ABT, on data analysis and countless hours in the simulator.

    The South African competed for ABT in DTM in 2021 and 2022 and was a title contender right up to the finale in his debut season.

    He first got a taste of Formula E, at the 2020 rookie test in Marrakesh and is supporting ABT Cupra in simulator preparation this season too.

    Kelvin has been part of the ABT family for years in a variety of roles. He has been involved since the beginning of our comeback project and was intended as Reserve Driver right from the start – so it was immediately clear to us that he would take over from Robin. We are in constant contact with Robin and wish him a speedy recovery. Even though everyone in the team misses him a lot, we’re giving him all the time he needs to fully recover from the injury – that’s our absolute priority. The task and challenge for Kelvin to start in a World Championship without any testing is of course gigantic but he is highly motivated, works hard and the whole team will support him without any pressure.

    Thomas Biermaier, Team Boss.

    To compete in Formula E is a dream of mine – but of course I wanted the circumstances of my debut to be different. I’m very sorry for Robin and I hope he’ll be fit again quickly. I am happy about the trust and the challenge. Now I have a few long days ahead of me and then I will do my best to stand in for Robin as well as possible.

    Kelvin van der Linde, on him stepping in.

  • Round 2- Diriyah E-Prix

    Now we are onto our second round an the second race day for the Diriyah E-Prix. To start the day of we had Free Practice 3.

    It was Wehrlein who topped the time sheets for free practice, with a 1m 07.215s. Most drivers lapped around a second slower than that on Friday- the track now having been cleaned uo and rubbered in further since race one.

    Vergne followed Wehrlein by a quarter of a second back, and Rowland finishing off the top 3 spots.

    There was a shunt from Nick Cassidy which saw the session split in two with the 10 minutes lost to its recorvery added on to give the teams the full 30 minutes running.

    Now onto qualifying, it was the Championship leader who took pole position! With Edoardo Mortara just missing out by 0.005s, what a duel it was to watch!

    Sam Bird hit the wall just like Cassidy did in FP3, he bended the suspension on the Jaguar which forced him to pull out of the Group B fight and start 21st…

    A late flurry of laps saw then-provisional fastest man Dennis pushed out of the top four and the Duels by de Vries, di Grassi, Rowland and Lotterer. Mortara had set the pace for Group B with Frijns’ late flying lap good enough for second and progress further, with both DS Techeetah cars going through in third and fourth.

    The top 10 finishers for qualifying was: P1: de Vries, P2: Mortara, P3: Frijns, P4: di Grassi, P5: Lotterer, P6: Vergne, P7: Rowland, P8: da Costa,   P9: Dennis and P10: Sims.

    Now onto the race! 30 minutes into the race and it looked to be Nyck’s however Formula E doesn’t work that was unfortunatley. 

    It was in fact Eduardo Mortara who claimed victory in an intense race, with Robin Frijns in P2 and to make it a 1-3 for Venturi, di Grassi finished 3rd!

    Mortara had overtaken his team-mate at Turn 18 amid a furious battle between the front runners, he then had to hold off Frijns who swept by di Grassi on lap 29. But a late safety car came into play for Alexander Sims who hit the wall at Turn 6 and then had to come to a stop.

    But as the clock ticked past 41 minutes, there was no time added on and with a slow process of clearing up the Mahindra car their was no more racing apart from a last corner dash which didn’t change the order up.

    The top 10 are: P1: Mortara, P2: Frijns, P3: di Grassi, P4: Lotterer. P5: Dennis, P6: Vergne, P7: Vandoorne, P8: Rowland, P9: Wehrlein and P10: de Vries.

    The next race is in two weeks and we are in Mexico for Formula E’s sixth appearance!

  • Round 1- Diriyah E-Prix

    And finally we have Formula E cars back on track! We had Free Practice 1 to start things off and for some it was good where as for others not so…

    In the first five minutes reigning champion Nyck de Vries struck the wall into Turn 3 with the rear of his Silver Arrow getting sideways and damage enough to force the Dutchman into retiring the car from the session which turned the whole course yellow.

    The track condition at Riyadh Street Circuit is always tough to manage during the opening session, the track evolves and gets faster as it cleans up. As conditions started to come to the drivers, Nissan e.dams new boy Maximillian Guenther set the target for the rest to chase mid-way through FP1. But it was Mahindra Racing’s new signing Oliver Rowland who hit the top of the timesheets at the end, with a 1m 10.559s, with Antonio Felix da Costa in 2nd and Jake Dennis in third.

    Going on to the second free practice session, it was Oliver Rowland again who took the top spot with Sam Bird whose won twice in Saudi Arabia was in 2nd by just 0.015. Third was Jake Dennis again making it an all British top 3.

    Rowland’s time was just over a second quicker than the times on Thursday due to the track. However it was the reigning champs who were down the order, with Stoffel Vandoorne 16th and Nyck a couple of spots back.

    Now onto qualifying- the new format for all the drivers but it was infact Mercedes’ Stoffel Vandoorne who took pole position. The final duel was between Stoffel and Jake (Dennis), Dennis originally flew off the line but his Andretti looked a lot looser than the Mercedes, and by the half-way point of the lap the Belgian had romped four tenths of a second clear.

    The top for qualifying are: P1: Vandoorne, P2: Dennis, P3: De Vries, P4: Lotterer, P5: Bird, P6: Cassidy, P7:Frijns, P8: Oliver Rowland, P9: Di Grassi, P10: Gunther.

    Now onto the race! It was the reigning champion taking the first race win of the season just like last year! And his team-mate bringing it home in second making the Mercedes EQ team have a 1-2!! What a way to start the season. The last podium spot going to Jake Dennis.

    The last couple of laps saw 4 drivers all battling for fourth position which involved Sam Bird, Lucas Di Grassi, Edoardo Mortara and Nick Cassidy. With Sam Bird making that fourth position.

  • A look into Saudi Arabia

    A look into Saudi Arabia

    For the first time this year it is race week for Formula E! Friday and Saturday we will have round 1 and 2, a double header in Saudi Arabia for the Diriyah E-Prix.

    Diriyah Circuit-

    The Diriyah Circuit has 21 twists and turns around the historic town walls of the UNESCO World Heritage site in the desert. The drivers will face a very challenging lap from as soon as the lights go green as they have a technical first sector which leads into a bobsleigh run at Turn 6.

    The circuit layout is a test of strategy with a long energy straight which closes out the lap. The race is run in the dark being illuminated by LEDs lining the circuit.

    RIYADH STREET CIRCUIT, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 26: Aerial drone footage of the Riyadh Street Circuit during the Diriyah ePrix I at Riyadh Street Circuit on Friday February 26, 2021 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Sam Bagnall / LAT Images)

    Last year saw Nyck De Vries win round 1 and Sam Bird win Round 2 at Diriyah. Will they be victorious again? Or could we see someone else?

    Will Mercedes EQ be able to start the ground running and get away in both title fights, as they and Nyck de Vries will be hoping to challenge for the Drivers and Teams championship!

    Times-

    Thursday 27th-

    Free Practice 1: 18:00pm to 18:30pm, 15:00pm to 15:30pm (GMT)

    Friday 28th-

    Free Practice 2: 13:30pm to 14:00pm (AST), 10:30am to 11:00am (GMT)

    Qualifying: 15:40pm to 17:00pm (AST), 12:40pm to 14:00pm (GMT)

    Round 1: 20:00pm to 21:00pm (AST), 17:00pm to 18:00pm (GMT)

    Saturday 29th-

    Free Practice 3: 13:30pm to 14:00pm (AST), 10:30am to 11:00am (GMT)

    Qualifying: 15:40pm to 17:00pm (AST), 12:40pm to 14:00pm (GMT)

    Round 2: 20:00pm to 21:00pm (AST), 17:00pm to 18:00pm (GMT).