Cape Town E-Prix – Nick Cassidy put Envision on top in this morning’s only practice session ahead of the inaugural Formula E race in South Africa.
Unlike the blue skies and blazing sunshine yesterday, it was a warm but cloudy start to the first race day in Cape Town. Rene Rast was the first to set a time, a 1:22.182 to warm up, and after everyone had set a completed a competitive fast lap it was Sacha Fenestraz’ 1:10.869 at the top, 0.120 ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne.
(FP2) Second Practice Results – 2023 Cape Town E-Prix
After the first ten minutes the times had dropped below the fastest time from FP1 and it was Maximilian Guenther on top for Maserati with a 1:09.305, almost three and a half tenths ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in P2.
Unlike the drama of yesterday’s practice, this one ran smoothly as drivers continued to shave the target time down. It was only within the final seven minutes though that the drivers got under a 69 second lap with Sam Bird blasting in a 1:08.550 and a few minutes later his Jaguar teammate joined him with a 1:08.695 despite losing a good chunk of time in the first sector.
In the end Nick Cassidy took P1 for Envision with a 1:08.118, three tenths ahead of Edoardo Mortara. NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum slotted into P3 ahead of the Jaguars of Evans and Bird. Vandoorne was P6, 0.550 seconds off the best while Antonio Felix da Costa was the highest placed Porsche in P7 although the Portuguese driver ended his session stopped on track.
Early pacesetter, Guenther ended in P8, with Pascal Wehrlein behind him the last in the 1:08s with a 1:08.923. The top ten was rounded out by Fenestraz, 0.904 seconds slower than Cassidy.
