Championship outsider Jean-Eric Vergne set the pace as Formula E’s finale weekend got underway in London.
The DS Penske driver’s best lap round the 20-turn, 1.29-mile indoor/outdoor circuit was a 1m11.290s, which he set on his 18th of 20 laps completed in the half-hour session.
Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi was second quickest, lapping just 0.028s off Vergne’s pace, while Jake Hughes put his NEOM McLaren third on the timesheets, a further 0.030s back. Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans was the highest of the main championship protagonists in fourth, but only 0.065s off the fastest time.
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Robin Frijns was the first driver outside of a tenth of the quickest time in the second Envision, finishing the session fifth with a 1m11.436s, ahead of Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther and TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, who comes into this weekend not only as the winner of the last three races, but with a shout at the championship.
Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske), Oliver Rowland (Nissan) and Sam Bird (McLaren) completed the top 10, with championship leader Nick Cassidy less than a tenth outside in 11th. He was, however, the fastest driver to not make use of the full complement of 350 kW of power. Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, Nico Mueller, Dan Ticktum and Jehan Daruvala were the other drivers to run below full power. Wehrlein was 13th for Porsche, Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara splitting the two.
Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan) was 14th, ahead of reigning champion Dennis (Andretti), Sergio Sette Camara (ERT), Lucas di Grassi (Abt Cupra), and Nyck de Vries (Mahindra). Norman Nato (Andretti), Mueller — competing for Abt Cupra for the final time this weekend — Ticktum (ERT), and Daruvala (Maserati) completed the field.