Practice report
Formula E Rome ePrix I
Rome E-Prix: Evans sets the pace in FP2 ahead of Dennis
Formula E championship protagonist Mitch Evans set a blistering late lap to comfortably top the second practice session ahead of the opening Rome E-Prix race this weekend.
Stefan Mackley
Edited: Jul 15, 2023, 11:22 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Jaguar driver was already top of the times with a lap that would have been good enough to end the session fastest heading into the final five minutes.
But the Kiwi, who won both races in Rome last year, set a blistering final lap as he became the only driver to go below the 1m38s barrier, setting a 1m37.881s, which was 0.613 seconds faster than championship leader Jake Dennis.
The Andretti Autosport driver was unable to improve on his final effort after suffering a small spin so remain second, while the Porsches of Antonio Felix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein set late laps to move into third and fourth respectively.
Nick Cassidy was the first driver to go below the 1m40s barrier on Saturday morning, posting a 1m39.729s after the opening 10 minutes of the session as his Envision Racing team-mate Sebastien Buemi slotted into second.
Approaching the halfway point of the 30-minute session, Evans topped the standings for the first time with a 1m39.545s, which was surpassed just moments later by Rene Rast as the second McLaren of Jake Hughes moved up to third.
Buemi became the first driver to set a sub-1m39s lap with a 1m38.904s with 15 minutes still on the clock, leaving him 0.424s clear of Rast.
Times continued to tumble in the second part of the session, with Wehrlein and then Evans moving to the top of the leaderboard before the final attempts.
Behind the top four, Maserati’s Edoardo Mortara and Andretti’s Andre Lotterer completed the top six.
Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
After setting the early pace, Cassidy - who sits just one point behind Dennis in the standings - slipped back to 15th at the chequered flag, 1.337s slower than Evans.
Wehrlein topped Friday afternoon’s much hotter FP1 session in the final moments with a 1m39.632s, while Jaguar’s Sam Bird slotted into second with his final lap placing him a further 0.272s behind.
Mortara completed the top three having initially topped the session for the final minutes, but he was just unable to break the sub 1m40s barrier by 0.004s as Buemi finished fourth.
Evans’ best time landed him fifth, but the Jaguar driver was unable to improve on his final run after being held up by the Mahindra of Roberto Mehri, the Kiwi pulling alongside and gesticulating towards the Spanish driver before confronting him in the pitlane afterwards.
Jean-Eric Vergne, who was handed a suspended fine by the FIA ahead of the meeting for comments made in the press, completed the top six for DS Penske.
Dennis endured a frustrating session as a broken suspension upright limited the Andretti driver to only a handful of laps at the end, which left him 18th on a 1m41.410s.
Both Abt Cupra drivers of Robin Frijns and Nico Muller were unable to register any timed laps after suffering with software issues.
Drugovich tops rookie session
Felipe Drugovich, Maserati MSG Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Reigning Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich topped the rookie session, which was held ahead of FP1 on Friday afternoon, for Maserati.
The Aston Martin and McLaren F1 reserve driver posted a 1m43.736s that put him 0.312s clear of Sheldon van der Linde at the end of the 30-minute session.
Like Drugovich and the majority of drivers during the session, van der Linde was back behind the wheel of the Gen3 machine having also taken part in the Berlin rookie test earlier this season for Jaguar.
Luca Ghiotto (Nissan) and Charlie Eastwood (McLaren) completed the top four, as two-time World Touring Car Cup champion Yann Ehrlacher finished fifth for DS Penske on his first official on-track experience of Formula E.
Zane Maloney (Andretti), Yifei Ye (Porsche), Jack Aitken (Envision) and Daniil Kvyat (NIO 333) completed the timed runners.
Jehan Daruvala and Adrien Tambay were unable to set times for Mahindra and Abt Cupra respectively due to software issues.
FP2 result:
Cla Driver Team Time Gap 1 Mitch Evans
Jaguar Racing 1'37.881 2
Jake Dennis
Andretti Autosport 1'38.494 0.613 3
Antonio Felix da Costa
Porsche Team 1'38.638 0.757 4
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Team 1'38.639 0.758 5
Edoardo Mortara
Maserati Racing 1'38.681 0.800 6
Andre Lotterer
Andretti Autosport 1'38.692 0.811 7
Sébastien Buemi
Envision Racing 1'38.695 0.814 8
Stoffel Vandoorne
DS Penske 1'38.753 0.872 9
Maximilian Gunther
Maserati Racing 1'38.772 0.891 10
Jean-Eric Vergne
DS Penske 1'38.870 0.989 11
Sacha Fenestraz
Nissan e.dams 1'38.905 1.024 12
René Rast
McLaren 1'38.944 1.063 13
Dan Ticktum
NIO Formula E Team 1'38.964 1.083 14
Sergio Sette Camara
NIO Formula E Team 1'39.007 1.126 15
Nick Cassidy
Envision Racing 1'39.218 1.337 16
Norman Nato
Nissan e.dams 1'39.224 1.343 17
Sam Bird
Jaguar Racing 1'39.479 1.598 18
Nico Müller
Team Abt 1'39.515 1.634 19
Lucas di Grassi
Mahindra Racing 1'39.560 1.679 20
Jake Hughes
McLaren 1'39.700 1.819 21
Robin Frijns
Team Abt 1'40.669 2.788 22
Roberto Merhi
Mahindra Racing 1'41.705 3.824 View full results
FP1 result:
Cla Driver Team Time Gap 1 Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Team 1'39.632 2
Sam Bird
Jaguar Racing 1'39.904 0.272 3
Edoardo Mortara
Maserati Racing 1'40.004 0.372 4
Sébastien Buemi
Envision Racing 1'40.177 0.545 5
Mitch Evans
Jaguar Racing 1'40.286 0.654 6
Jean-Eric Vergne
DS Penske 1'40.338 0.706 7
Norman Nato
Nissan e.dams 1'40.359 0.727 8
Maximilian Gunther
Maserati Racing 1'40.406 0.774 9
Sacha Fenestraz
Nissan e.dams 1'40.511 0.879 10
Antonio Felix da Costa
Porsche Team 1'40.523 0.891 11
Stoffel Vandoorne
DS Penske 1'40.562 0.930 12
Jake Hughes
McLaren 1'40.585 0.953 13
Nick Cassidy
Envision Racing 1'40.718 1.086 14
Sergio Sette Camara
NIO Formula E Team 1'40.724 1.092 15
Dan Ticktum
NIO Formula E Team 1'40.738 1.106 16
René Rast
McLaren 1'40.780 1.148 17
Andre Lotterer
Andretti Autosport 1'40.923 1.291 18
Jake Dennis
Andretti Autosport 1'41.410 1.778 19
Lucas di Grassi
Mahindra Racing 1'43.303 3.671 20
Roberto Merhi
Mahindra Racing 1'47.995 8.363 21
Robin Frijns
Team Abt 22
Nico Müller
Team Abt View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dennis: Porsche relationship "shouldn't change" in FE title run-in
Next article Rome E-Prix: Evans beats Jaguar team-mate Bird to pole
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Stefan Mackley
Formula E’s Pit Boost debut receives mixed response from drivers
Formula E
Formula E
Jeddah ePrix I
Formula E’s Pit Boost debut receives mixed response from drivers
The influencer fishing exercise Formula E hopes can achieve its long-term aims
Formula E
Formula E
The influencer fishing exercise Formula E hopes can achieve its long-term aims
Beckham's son, Aguero amongst celebrities set to drive Formula E cars in Miami
Formula E
Formula E
Beckham's son, Aguero amongst celebrities set to drive Formula E cars in Miami
More from
Mitch Evans
Mitch Evans to lead Opel’s new Formula E team in Gen4 era
Formula E
Formula E
Mitch Evans to lead Opel’s new Formula E team in Gen4 era
What brought an end to Mitch Evans’ 10-year relationship with Jaguar in Formula E?
Formula E
Formula E
Berlin ePrix I
What brought an end to Mitch Evans’ 10-year relationship with Jaguar in Formula E?
More from
Jaguar Racing
Antonio Felix da Costa defends Jaguar, says Pascal Wehrlein took Jake Dennis out “on purpose”
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Antonio Felix da Costa defends Jaguar, says Pascal Wehrlein took Jake Dennis out “on purpose”
Pascal Wehrlein: Jaguar wanted to "destroy my race” in controversial London finale
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Pascal Wehrlein: Jaguar wanted to "destroy my race” in controversial London finale
Latest news
Red Bull identifies two "key focus" areas after Max Verstappen's promising start in Austin
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
48 min
Red Bull identifies two "key focus" areas after Max Verstappen's promising start in Austin
Supercars Gold Coast: Chaz Mostert dominates wet race for Walkinshaw Toyota
Supercars
SUPC Supercars
Gold Coast 500
1 h
Supercars Gold Coast: Chaz Mostert dominates wet race for Walkinshaw Toyota
Alex Marquez says overtaking Marc Marquez was “too risky” in Australian GP sprint
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Alex Marquez says overtaking Marc Marquez was “too risky” in Australian GP sprint
Jorge Martin declared unfit for Australian GP after suffering fracture in sprint
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Jorge Martin declared unfit for Australian GP after suffering fracture in sprint
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe