Sao Paulo E-Prix – Antonio Felix da Costa’s late lap put him well out in front at the end of the final practice ahead of qualifying in Brazil.
Rene Rast was the first to head to the track as the inaugural Formula E race day in Brazil got underway. It was Jaguar’s Sam Bird though who opened the timesheets with a 1:17.810 and the times came in quick and fast as the drivers got to grips with the street circuit.
(FP2) Second Practice Results – 2023 Sao Paulo E-Prix
Ten minutes in it was Nick Cassidy in P1 with a 1:13.192, but it was a very close run thing with the Envision racer less than a tenth ahead of both Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans. A minute later and Stoffel Vandoorne had broken into the 1:12s with a 1:12.611, still three tenths slower than Sebastien Buemi’s time from FP1 yesterday though.
With just less than eighteen minutes on the clock and Lucas di Grassi posted the fastest time yet on the track, a 1:12.203. The Brazilian didn’t get to hold that spot for too long though as Buemi got very close to breaking into the 1:11s before Nissan’s Norman Nato did just that and brought the time down to a 1:11.763.
It looked like it was going to end with Maximilian Guenther on top, 0.001 seconds quicker than Nato, but at the death Antonio Felix da Costa blew everyone away setting a 1:11.496 in his Porsche to take P1 0.266 seconds ahead of anyone else.
Guenther and Nato finished P2 and P3 while da Costa’s teammate, Pascal Wehrlein, slotted into P4 with a 1:11.853. Aside from the big gap between first and second, there was less than a tenth, or in some cases not even that, between P2 and P16.
Jake Dennis, in his Porsche-powered Andretti was P5 less than two hundredths behind Wehrlein while Cassidy took P6 with a 1:11.921. Jake Hughes was the higher placed of the McLarens in P7, just ahead of Vandoorne. NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum took P9 while the top ten was rounded out by Nico Mueller in the ABT Cupra who was the last to set a sub-72 second lap with a 1:11.966.
