Rome E-Prix: Evans continues Formula E dominance in FP3

Having claimed pole, victory and fastest lap in Saturday’s opening race in Rome to propel himself firmly back into title contention, the Jaguar driver also posted the fastest time in FP3 on Sunday morning. 

With the session held in cooler conditions than at the same point yesterday, times began to tumble as all those who had been involved in yesterday’s multi-car crash were able to take to the circuit during the 30-minute session. 

New championship leader Nick Cassidy topped the times after the opening five minutes with a 1m41.288s, but his lap was almost immediately beaten by Jake Dennis as the Andretti Autosport driver went 0.148s quicker. 

Maximilian Guenther, who earlier in the session had almost gone head-on into the barrier at Turn 7 before recovering, posted a 1m39.439s to put himself fastest before Evans went slightly quicker with a 1m39.353s 

Approaching the halfway point, McLaren’s Rene Rast became the first driver to go below the 1m39s barrier with a 1m38.550s, with Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein slotting into second – 0.489s in arrears. 

Lucas di Grassi came to a halt on the exit of Turn 16 and took several minutes before he was able to resume, while the second Mahindra of Robert Mehri bounced off the barrier at Turn 13 before going off at Turn 4 later in the session. 

Inside the final 10 minutes, Maserati's Guenther posted a 1m38.409s to top the timesheets, before again Evans went faster with a 1m37.724s, which was more than a tenth faster than his effort from FP2 on Saturday. 

Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi moved to the top of the times with just two minutes left on the clock with a 1m37.663s, with Guenther setting an identical time with his final effort. 

But both were bested by Evans who posted a 1m37.561s to go 0.102 clear, despite not setting the fastest time through any of the three sectors. 

Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa finished fourth ahead of Cassidy, Dennis and NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum. 

Pascal Wehrlein, who finished seventh on-the-road in Saturday’s Rome E-Prix before being demoted to ninth for overspeeding under the red flag, finished eighth. 

Sam Bird, who triggered the multi-car crash in Saturday’s race, finished ninth, less than six tenths behind Jaguar team-mate Evans in a newly built-up machine, while NIO 333’s Sergio Sette Camara completed the top 10. 

Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz, who had led Saturday’s opening Rome E-Prix before finishing 10th, was the only driver unable to set a timed lap due to car issues. 

Rome E-Prix - FP3 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1'37.561
2	16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	1'37.663	0.102
3	7	Maximilian Gunther	Maserati Racing	1'37.663	0.102
4	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	Porsche Team	1'37.709	0.148
5	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	1'37.899	0.338
6	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport	1'37.942	0.381
7	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO Formula E Team	1'38.047	0.486
8	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	1'38.075	0.514
9	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	1'38.130	0.569
10	3	Sergio Sette Camara	NIO Formula E Team	1'38.196	0.635
11	1	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	1'38.267	0.706
12	36	Andre Lotterer	Andretti Autosport	1'38.368	0.807
13	17	Norman Nato	Nissan e.dams	1'38.490	0.929
14	51	Nico Müller	Team Abt	1'38.498	0.937
15	58	René Rast	McLaren	1'38.500	0.939
16	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	DS Penske	1'38.690	1.129
17	4	Robin Frijns	Team Abt	1'39.123	1.562
18	5	Jake Hughes	McLaren	1'39.162	1.601
19	48	Edoardo Mortara	Maserati Racing	1'39.449	1.888
20	8	Roberto Merhi	Mahindra Racing	1'40.251	2.690
21	11	Lucas di Grassi	Mahindra Racing	1'40.283	2.722
22	23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan e.dams
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