Oliver Rowland put his Nissan e.dams on top Saturday’s free practice sessions for the double header finale of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in New York.
The Brit posted a 1:09.695 to head off the BMW i Andretti of Antonio Felix da Costa by 0.083 seconds. Season two champion, Sebastien Buemi was third while the quickest man from FP1, Alexander Sims, slotted in behind with a 1:09.899.
A dusty track in both sessions led to many drivers locking up or brushing walls, Robin Frijns was one of those but that didn’t stop him from putting his Envision Virgin Racing machine fifth with a 1:10.083. Mahindra’s Pascal Wehrlein took sixth while the other Virgin car driven by Sam Bird and Wehrlien’s own teammate Jerome d’Ambrosio were seventh and eighth.
Venturi’s Felipe Massa was the penultimate driver in the top 10 after he put in a 1:10.460 with Rome E-Prix winner Mitch Evans taking the final spot.
Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne only posted the 17th fastest time after locking up and touching the wall on his full power lap but he had been fastest of anyone in his first sector as well as the fourth fastest in FP1 so there’s no doubting he has the speed.
The Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler cars were also slow, with Abt and di Grassi only 14th and 16th in FP2, and 11th and 12th in FP1. If they want to have any chance of contesting the championships this weekend they are going to have to find their pace soon.
