Practice report
Formula E Diriyah ePrix I
Diriyah E-Prix: Rowland tops first practice of 2022, de Vries crashes
Oliver Rowland topped the first Diriyah E-Prix practice session, as reigning Formula E champion Nyck de Vries hit the wall to end his session after five minutes.
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Jan 28, 2022, 12:25 PM
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Rowland logged a 1m10.559s at the death of FP1, preceded by a 15-minute shakedown earlier in the day, dispatching Antonio Felix da Costa from the top of the times to draw first blood for the 2021-22 season.
Da Costa had originally been able to hold on from a late onslaught by DS Techeetah teammate Jean-Eric Vergne to cement the fastest time, but Rowland's last-minute effort left the Portuguese driver second - 0.158s off the best time.
Sam Bird set the first time unaffected by an early, performatory full-course yellow, a 1m18.635, but the times quickly tumbled as his Jaguar teammate Mitch Evans immediately sent the British driver down a spot and went six-tenths faster.
Bird had earlier labelled the track "horrendous", owing to a huge concentration of dust all over the road surface owing to desert sand and local construction work.
As the dust began to clear, the laptimes dropped into the 1m15s, with Pascal Wehrlein posting a 1m15.867s before the Porsche driver was dispatched by Sebastien Buemi's 1m15.622s.
De Vries then punctuated the opening 10 minutes with another full-course yellow, sliding on the dust at Turn 3 and clouting the barrier with his left-rear wheel for a dose of suspension damage.
Once running resumed after the Dutchman had retreated to an exit road, Buemi continued to wind down the times with a 1m14.023s, until two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne set a 1m13.716s.
Evans and Wehrlein then nudged past Vergne, until Robin Frijns clocked a 1m13.411s to sit top of the times at the half-way stage.
Frijns' minute-long reign at the top of the timesheets was ended by Evans diving into the 1m12s, but the circuit continued to evolve as Stoffel Vandoorne broke into the 1m11s - although was overhauled in short order by Techeetah duo Antonio Felix da Costa and Vergne - the latter posting a 1m11.019s.
Da Costa hit back with a 1m10.717s and looked to end Thursday's running with bragging rights after Vergne's purple opening pair of sectors came to nothing with a late slide, but Rowland's final lap then deposed the 2019-20 champion.
Jake Dennis was third with his own late effort, setting the quickest finals sector to best Vergne, as Evans was fifth fastest.
2020-21 runner-up Edoardo Mortara was sixth fastest, with Wehrlein seventh - but under investigation for speeding under the full-course yellow.
Buemi was eighth ahead of Venturi's new charger Lucas di Grassi, as Nick Cassidy completed the top 10.
Dan Ticktum was the best of the rookies, finishing 13th fastest - nearly a full second ahead of NIO 333 teammate Oliver Turvey.
Diriyah E-Prix - First practice results:
Cla # Driver Team Time Gap 1 30 Oliver Rowland
Mahindra Racing 1'10.559 2 13
Antonio Felix da Costa
Techeetah 1'10.717 0.158 3 27
Jake Dennis
Avalanche Andretti Formula E 1'10.739 0.180 4 25 Jean-Eric Vergne
Techeetah 1'10.744 0.185 5 9
Mitch Evans
Jaguar Racing 1'11.064 0.505 6 48
Edoardo Mortara
Venturi 1'11.080 0.521 7 94
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Team 1'11.139 0.580 8 23
Sébastien Buemi
DAMS 1'11.199 0.640 9 11
Lucas di Grassi
Venturi 1'11.233 0.674 10 37
Nick Cassidy
Virgin Racing 1'11.329 0.770 11 36
Andre Lotterer
Porsche Team 1'11.400 0.841 12 29
Alexander Sims
Mahindra Racing 1'11.461 0.902 13 33
Dan Ticktum
NIO Formula E Team 1'11.478 0.919 14 5
Stoffel Vandoorne
Mercedes 1'11.610 1.051 15 4
Robin Frijns
Virgin Racing 1'11.640 1.081 16 10
Sam Bird
Jaguar Racing 1'11.751 1.192 17 22
Maximilian Gunther
DAMS 1'11.921 1.362 18 7
Sergio Sette Camara
Dragon Racing 1'11.955 1.396 19 3
Oliver Turvey
NIO Formula E Team 1'12.361 1.802 20 99
Antonio Giovinazzi
Dragon Racing 1'12.442 1.883 21 28
Oliver Askew
Avalanche Andretti Formula E 1'12.668 2.109 22 17 Nyck de Vries
Mercedes 1'40.153 29.594 View full results
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