Paris ePrix: Di Grassi tops FP2 with last-gasp lap

The Abt Audi Sport driver left it to the dying moments of the session to go quickest by two tenths of a second.

Di Grassi and championship leader Sebastien Buemi were among several drivers to leave it late to carry out a 200kW lap in FP2.

In the closing minutes of the session Jose Maria Lopez was quickest on a 1m01.559s, which Buemi could not quite match on a last-minute qualifying simulation and ended up 0.022s adrift of in his Renault e.dams machine.

Moments later di Grassi vaulted to the top with a 1m01.359s, fractionally faster than Mike Conway’s practice benchmark last year.

Daniel Abt backed up the Audi-backed team’s pace with the fourth-fastest time, just 0.01s slower than FP1 pacesetter Buemi – whose Renault team struggled here last season.

The track appears slower here than last year, despite warmer temperatures due to the race taking place a month later, with no real improvement in laptimes.

Turn 1 continued to catch drivers out, with di Grassi and Lopez among several drivers to lock up and run deep into the run-off area.

Techeetah drivers Jean-Eric Vergne and Esteban Gutierrez and Jaguar’s Adam Carroll, who ended FP2 slowest, also had trips down the escape road.

Vergne’s attempt at a 200kW was scruffy and only good enough to ninth ahead of qualifying for his home race, as the Renault-powered Frenchman seeks to end his Formula E win drought.

Apart from a lurid slide at Turn 14 the returning Conway performed well standing in for the DTM-competing Loic Duval at Faraday Future Dragon Racing.

He was only 16th fastest but was 0.033s slower than team-mate Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Formula E debutant Tom Dillmann, in for Maro Engel (also on DTM duty) at Venturi, was 18th, 1.4s off the pace and three tenths slower than Stephane Sarrazin in the same car.

FP2 results

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	11	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	21	1'01.359
2	37	Jose Maria Lopez	Virgin Racing	20	1'01.559	0.200
3	9	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	20	1'01.581	0.222
4	66	Daniel Abt	Team Abt	23	1'01.591	0.232
5	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	14	1'01.605	0.246
6	19	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	20	1'01.707	0.348
7	8	Nicolas Prost	DAMS	16	1'01.808	0.449
8	88	Oliver Turvey	NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team	19	1'01.923	0.564
9	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	20	1'02.031	0.672
10	27	Robin Frijns	Andretti Autosport	17	1'02.271	0.912
11	3	Nelson Piquet Jr.	NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team	15	1'02.296	0.937
12	33	Esteban Gutierrez	Techeetah	15	1'02.328	0.969
13	4	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi	22	1'02.419	1.060
14	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	19	1'02.463	1.104
15	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	19	1'02.492	1.133
16	6	Mike Conway	Dragon Racing	18	1'02.525	1.166
17	28	Antonio Felix da Costa	Andretti Autosport	13	1'02.573	1.214
18	5	Tom Dillmann	Venturi	25	1'02.789	1.430
19	23	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra Racing	14	1'02.929	1.570
20	47	Adam Carroll	Jaguar Racing	18	1'03.137	1.778