Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Misano E Prix

  • RND 7 – Misano E-Prix

    FP3-

    Despite having Round 6 already and collecting lots of data, practice makes perfect as the grid headed back out for another session.

    All drivers got lap times in, but Mahindra Racing’s Nyck de Vries slowed whilst he was on the track, he managed to make his way back to the garage and got out later on in the session to finish ninth.

    ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller, topped the timesheets for a while in the middle of the 30 minute session, with the team looking to get more points on the board this weekend.

    However, it was Robin Frijns who managed to go quickest. The Envision driver crossed the finish line in last and 18th Saturday, but moved up to 17th after post-race sanctions were applied.

    Qualifying-

    NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes achieved the third Julius Baer Pole Position of his Formula E career, as he took on two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne in the final of the qualifying Duels.

    It’s a great result for Hughes, especially given he was demoted to the back of the grid for not having his car’s fire extinguisher armed during the session.

    During the final Hughes had the advantage in sector one, but Vergne claimed it back in the second sector. However the Brit, ended up two-tenths ahead at the chequered flag.

    Things went from bad to worse for Antonio Felix da Costa, as he had his lap time deleted in the final stages of the group in 11th. Misano not quite going his way after the disqualification.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hughes, P2: Vergne, P3: Wehrlein, P4: Mueller, P5: Bird, P6: Vandoorne, P7: Frijns, P8: Cassidy, P9: Dennis and P10: Rowland.

    Round 7-

    Pole sitter Hughes led cleanly away with Vergne and Wehrlein plus the rest of the pack following close behind, with the top three as they’d left the gird at the end of Lap 1.

    Drivers jostled to find space and clean air over the early laps – desperately trying to avoid the pinch points at Turn 8 & 9 and fall foul of contact.
    On Lap 4, Hughes and Vergne were the first to jump for Attack Mode. From there, Hughes ceded the race lead to the DS Driver, having led until that point while Wehrlein and Cassidy then jumped for Attack Mode and occupied P1 and P2 respectively at the end of Lap 5.

    ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller was next to lead, with the top 10 pretty much level on usable energy remaining on Lap 7, while Robin Frijns caught his wing in contact, sending him straight on and into gravel, requiring the Safety Car to be deployed for his recovery.
    On lap 9, the race went green once again with Mueller leading Wehrlein and Cassidy away, while most of the pack leapt for Attack Mode activations.

    On Lap 11, thing went from bad to worse again for Antonio Felix da Costa after as he got contact at Turn 1 which required his front wing to be replaced which then pushed him down the order.

    Mueller hit the front again on lap 13, with Wherlein behind, while Rowland picked his moment to push – taking third from Wehrlein before moving into the race lead, as Mueller was shuffled first ot third by the Nissan then reigning champion Jake Dennis.

    Wehrlein looked to be in the box seat with 10 laps to go – the Porsche driver with a massive 2% usable energy in hand on those around him.
    On lap 18, the German driver leapt to the front of the field with enough in-hand to punch his way through the air out front to the finish.

    Rowland took the lead through Sector 1 on Lap 20, looking to gain track position with five tours to go. The German’s engineer was over the radio to his driver to make a move for P1 with four laps to run with the lead pair pulling two seconds on third-placed Dennis.

    Wehrlein seemed powerless, though with his battery derating – overheating – heading into the final lap. Drama though saw Wehrlein swoop by the Nissan as Rowland slowed to a crawl, running out of usable energy long before the flag.
    Dennis followed him home with Cassidy pipping Mueller on the line for third position – heartbreakingly close to silverware for the ABT CUPRA squad.

    The full top 10 are – P1: Wehrlein, P2: Dennis, P3: Cassidy, P4: Mueller, P5: Fenestraz, P6: Sette Camara, P7: Vergne, P8: Hughes, P9: Daruvala and P10: Bird.

  • RND 6 – Misano E-Prix

    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.

  • Barnard confirmed by NEOM McLaren for Misano

    NEOM McLaren will be giving Taylor Barnard another opportunity behind the wheel of their Gen3 car at the Misano Rookie Free Practice session on Friday 12th April.

    Barnard, from Norwich England, entered single seater racing in 2020. Since then, he has become the 2022 ADAC Formula 4 runner-up, as well as the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship runner-up.

    In 2023, during his debut season in FIA Formula 3, he took his maiden victory in the championship at Spa-Francorchamps and finished the season 10th in the Drivers’ standings. He has now moved up to FIA Formula 2 for the 2024 season.

    Taylor got his first taste of Formula E racing in October 2023, having driven for the team as a rookie driver during the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s Valencia Pre-Season Test.
    Since then, he’s become an integral part of the team in his role as Reserve and Development Driver for NEOM McLaren.

    I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the NEOM McLaren GEN3 car in Misano. I’ve enjoyed working with the team so far this year as Reserve and Development Driver, and I’m looking forward to putting this into practice on-track.

    Barnard on the news.

    I am delighted that Taylor will be representing the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team in the Misano Rookie Free Practice Session next week. In his current role of Reserve and Development driver, Taylor is an integral part of the team and has helped us improve our performance on-track. This session will help him further understand the team and the correlation between his work in our simulator and on-track racing, while giving him that all-important experience in GEN3 machinery.

    Ian James, Team Principal.

  • Porsche announce Formula E rookies

    Matt Campbell is set to jump into the car at Porsche at Misano Rookie Free Practice session.
    Porsche’s sportscar racer will take part in FP0 on Formula E’s visit to Misano ahead of Rounds 6 & 7, which will be his first taste of Formula E machinery.

    Campbell has more than impressed so far in 2024, with wins at the famed Daytona 24 Hours and Bathurst 12 Hours for Porsche, while he took pole and third position in the FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener in Qatar in March.

    Porsche works driver, Thomas Preining will be joining Dennis Hauger at Porsche for the Rookie Test after May’s Berlin double-header, at the all-day session on Monday 13th May.

    Preining is currently competing in Deustche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), where he won the championship last year. His been racing in the championship since 2022, which he scored his and Porsche’s first win in the series.
    Due to Preining’s affiliation with Porsche, their Formula E team offered him a drive in the Rookie Test at Marrakech back in 2020.

    Hauger who currently races in Formula 2, won the FIA Formula 3 Championship back in 2021 and the Italian F4 Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing.
    In September 2017, Hauger was named as one of Red Bull Junior Team, and later announced as one of four reserve drivers for the Formula One team in 2023. Hauger then announced he would split with Red Bull following the end of 2023 after six years with the team.

  • Aitken to return to Formula E with Envision

    Jack Aitken, the current IMSA and DTM racer and past Formula 1 reserve driver, will be in the cockpit in Misano at the Rookie Free Practice session with Envision Racing.

    After getting behind the wheel of a Formula E car for the first time in May at the Berlin Rookie Test last season, Aitken also had a further opportunity to test for the Silverstone-based outfit ahead of July’s double-header in the Italian capital.

    Prior to Formula E’s first visit to Misano this season, there’s another Rookie Free Practice session with FP0, on Friday set to offer fresh faces a chance in the world’s foremost electric race series – and Aitken is set for another opportunity to impress and assist the team as they continue to gather data and insights into their Gen3 development.

    The British-South Korean racer has a vast amount of single-seater experience in his career to-date, including making his Formula 1 debut with Williams Racing at the Sakhir Grand Prix back in 2020.

    I’m looking forward to another outing with Envision, this time at Misano, a much more traditional circuit than the ones I’ve experienced so far. Apart from this change in scenery I’m glad to join the team at another event, it’s always fascinating to sample the car and then watch and learn from everyone during the weekend.

    Aitken on the news.

    We are very pleased to welcome Jack Aitken back to Envision Racing for the rookie session in Misano. Jack provided lots of useful feedback to the team following his tests last season in Berlin and Rome, so we are excited to have him step into the car again. This will be our first ever race in Misano, and we are confident Jack will once again provide the team with great feedback following the session.

    Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director and Chief Technical Officer at Envision Racing.

  • Tim Tramnitz will test for ABT CUPRA

    German racer, Tim Tramnitz will jump back into the ABT Cupra’s Gen3 car again this season, in Free Practice in Misano and at the Berlin Rookie Test after the Berlin double-header.

    Tramnitz has already tested for the team in 2023, and made a strong impression strong enough for an invite back to take part in the rookie tests.

    The 19 year old, first started karting back in 2011 and continued until 2019 getting lots of experience under his belt. In 2020 he moved to single seaters where he raced in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship.

    From there he went on to do ADAC F4 again but this time he paired it with Italian F4, he had strong campaigns in both, where he finished runner-up in both series’.
    The German driver went on to compete in the Formula Regional European Championship, and then moved to Formula 3 this year for his rookie season.

    Last year, Tramnitz got announced as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. He is also part of Motorsport Team Germany and has been a member of the ADAC Sports Foundation team for seven years.

    I am really looking forward to the ABT team and the Formula E test. The first few hours last year were already a lot of fun – and it’s always cool to sit in a race car. I especially like working with the engineers when we look at and analyze all the data, because it’s much more comprehensive than it is for me in Formula 3. I can learn a lot and take a lot with me.

    Tramnitz on the news.

    Tim was not only consistently fast at his first test in 2023 and gave our engineers good feedback, but he is also simply a great guy. That was obviously a perfect start – especially because Formula 3 has many new challenges with tyre management, more aerodynamics on the car and DRS.

    Thomas Biermaier, Team Principal on Tramnitz and getting off to a dream start in F3 with a podium.

  • Andretti to run Maloney & Crawford in rookie tests

    Andretti have chosen Zane Maloney who will take the wheel of the teams’ Porsche 99X Electric in the Free Practice 0 session in Misano and the Berlin Rookie Test, with Jak Crawford joining the American squad for the first time to sample the Gen3 machine.

    The next generation of racing talent will again have a chance to showcase their skills in Season 10. Free Practice 0 running ahead of the 2024 Misano E-Prix on Friday 12th April, followed by the 2024 Berlin Rookie Test after the double-header in the German capital on Monday 13th May.

    Andretti is the first team to reveal the two drivers stepping into the seat of reigning champion, Jake Dennis and teammate Norman Nato.
    Zane Maloney is back to represent the American outfit, as he is the team’s official reserve and development by running laps in the FPO session in Milano.

    Maloney will again take part in the Berlin test and American Jak Crawford will join for a full day behind the wheel of the Gen3 machine around the Tempelhof circuit.

    Crawford who will make his Formula E debut at the 2024 Berlin Rookie Test has enjoyed a long history of on track success starting in karts before making his car racing debut in Formula 4 in 2018.
    After two years in FIA Formula 3, Crawford was promoted to Formula 2 quickly becoming a race winner at the Sprint race in Austria in 2023.

    Recently announced to the Aston Martin Young Driver Development program, Crawford will be the seventh American to participate in an official Formula E session joining fellow countrymen Marco Andretti, Matthew Brabham, Scott Speed, Oliver Askew, Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood.

    I can’t wait to represent Andretti Formula E once again at both Misano and Berlin. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the team and thank them for all the trust they have put in me. It will be interesting to see how the development work I’ve contributed to behind the scenes translates to the actual car on track during both occasions I get to drive it.

    Maloney on the news.

    We are excited to announce Zane Maloney’s participation in the Free Practice 0 session at the 2024 Misano E-Prix, as well as his inclusion in our 2024 Berlin Rookie Test lineup. Zane has proven to be a valuable asset to our team through his development work on the simulator, and we are confident that his knowledge will benefit us during the Misano E-Prix doubleheader weekend and the Berlin Rookie Test. Additionally, we are pleased to announce Jak Crawford’s rookie debut at  the Berlin Rookie Test,which marks an important milestone in his career. We look forward to seeing him showcase his talents on the Formula E stage. These opportunities are integral to Andretti Global’s commitment to developing and mentoring the next generation of drivers, and we are eager to see both Zane and Jak excel on track.

    Roger Griffiths, Andretti Team Principal.