Diriyah E-Prix 2 – a late flyer from Mitch Evans demoted Dan Ticktum from the top of of the times in the final practice in Diriyah.
The Maseratis were the first to take to the sun soaked Diriyah track, the Monegasque team had a nightmare day yesterday with Maximilian Guenther crashing in qualifying and having too much damage on the car to take part in the race while Edoardo Mortara also sustained damage in qualifying but then had his race come to a premature end thanks to a puncture.
(FP3) Third Practice Results – 2023 Diriyah E-Prix 2
There was a brief Yellow Flag in the first few minutes when Kelvin van der Linde stopped on track, the South African did manage to get going again and spent the next few minutes in the ABT Cupra garage.
The first time of the day was a 1:19.135 from Mortara but after the first ten minutes it was Jake Hughes in P1 with a 1:10.074 while Jake Dennis was four and a half tenths further back in P2.
A couple of minutes later the times dropped into the 1:09s with Sebastien Buemi setting a 1:09.897 for Envision. Halfway through the session Lucas di Grassi and the wall had a bit of coming together at T18. The Brazilian got onto the runoff and then lost the rear and hit the barriers but was able to make it back to the pits for Mahindra to check the car out but remained there for the rest of the session.
With ten minutes to go Dan Ticktum was in P1 for NIO 333 with a 1:09.241, a few tenths quicker than Buemi and Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne in P2 and P3. The Brit was looking like he would go two for two on topping race day practice sessions in Diriyah this weekend but Evans got everything right for Jaguar at the end to set the fastest time, a 1:09.092.
Ticktum finished P2 while Jean-Eric Vergne was P3 for Penske, 0.223 seconds off the Jaguar. Nissan’s Norman Nato was P4 with a 1:09.417 ahead of the second Jaguar, yesterday’s third place finisher in the race, Sam Bird.
The two McLaren’s were P6 and P8, Rene Rast’s 1:09.554 just three hundredths quicker than Hughes, while Buemi split the two in P7. Vandoorne was P8, his 1:09.587 just a thousandth slower than Hughes ahead, while Andre Lotterer in P10 was the first not within half a second of Evans’ effort, the Andretti racer finishing 0.553 seconds off the Kiwi.
