London E-Prix 1 – Maximilian Guenther led a BMW i Andretti 1-2 in a damp and slippery second free practice session at the ExCeL circuit.
As was forecast, the session started with lots of standing water on the outside section of the circuit after heavy overnight rain. After Sebastien Buemi and Mitch Evans had been the most frequently seen drivers at the top of the timesheets, it was the BMWs who took the glory with first Jake Dennis and then Guenther taking the top spot in the final moments of the session.
Click here to see the session times.
Guenther ended as the only driver under 87 seconds with a 1:26.838, beating his teammate’s effort by 0.375 seconds. Tag Heuer Porsche’s Andre Lotterer was third with a 1:27.467 while Alex Lynn was the best of the Mahindras in fourth, 0.661 off the top time.
Sergio Sette Camara posted a 1:27.508 to secure fifth fastest for Dragon/Penske Autosport while Nyck de Vries was the only Mercedes EQ car to see the session through to the end, he finished 0.943 seconds behind Guenther in sixth.
Just one thousandth behind de Vries was Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler’s Rene Rast, with the German slotting in ahead of the two Nissan e.dams cars. Sebastien Buemi ahead of his teammate Oliver Rowland by 0.003 seconds after the Swiss driver put in a 1:27.792.
The final driver in the top ten, and the only one of those not within a second of Guenther’s time, was Rokit Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara with a 1:27.932. He slotted in just ahead of the two Jaguars, while the other top Teams’ Championship contenders, Envision Virgin and DS Techeetah were also lineastern in the times in P21-22 and P18-19 respectively.
It was a very short session for Mercedes EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne as he got caught out by the rain heading into T10 after just three minutes. The Belgian driver ended up spinning and whacking the front of the car and being unable to return to the pits. Vandoorne and his car spent the rest of the session sitting in the rain behind the barriers.
Robin Frijns had quite a spectacular moment on the downhill section, losing the rear and sliding sideways down the hill. The nose of his Virgin car just brushing the wall, truncating it slightly, but the car slowed just before he would’ve hit the barriers in the runoff and he was able to continue.
