Mitch Evans topped second practice for the Mexico City E-Prix in what was a strong session for Jaguar.
The day began on something of a bad note for the team, however, with both factory drivers Evans and Nick Cassidy — as well as DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne — being hit with one-place grid penalties overnight for red flag infringements during Friday’s first practice.
FP2 took place early in the morning with the temperatures cooler and therefore not representative of what Saturday afternoon’s race will be like, unlike Friday’s session. Nevertheless, lap times were quicker, with the track more rubbered in and the driver more accustomed to it.
Evans’ session best of 1m13.606 was 0.064s quicker than Maserati MSG’s Maximillian Guenther, with Robin Frijns of Jaguar customer Envision Racing in third. Cassidy was fourth quickest, with Vandoorne keeping Envision’s Sebastien Buemi out of the top five.
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Oliver Rowland was seventh, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in the other DS Penske, followed by reigning champion Jake Dennis of Andretti Global and FP1 pacesetter Jake Hughes of NEOM McLaren. Hughes was running in a new chassis after crashing at the end of FP1.
Dan Ticktum was just 0.028s out of the top 10 in his ERT entry. Sam Bird was 12th quickest in the other McLaren, with previous champions Lucas di Grassi (Abt Cupra) and Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) in 15th and 16th respectively, the pair being split by Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan), and Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche).
The second Andretti of Norman Nato, Nico Mueller in the other Abt Cupra entry, Maserati rookie Jehan Daruvala, Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara, ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara, and the returning Nyck de Vries in the other Mahindra rounded out the field.