Rome E-Prix: Second practice cancelled after kerb breakage
Formula E cancelled the second practice session ahead of the Rome E-Prix after only 10 minutes of running as a kerb breakage could not be repaired in time.
Marshals and FIA members inspect the damaged kerb
Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
The second 30-minute run was red flagged early on as the inside kerb at Turn 12 of the chicane worked itself loose after final hits from Mahindra Racing driver Alex Lynn and Dragon/Penske's Nico Muller.
Drivers were informed by race director Scot Elkins that the session would resume.
But after a 40-minute stoppage, eventually Elkins abandoned the session.
This was chiefly to allow sufficient time for the cars to be recharged in time for the qualifying session an hour later.
It is understood that the kerb will now be removed altogether to leave only the inside wall to define the edge of the circuit at Turn 12.
The extensive delays did however allow Tom Blomqvist and Jake Dennis to get back into their repaired cars after being involved in two red-flag incidents during first practice.
BMW Andretti driver Maximilian Gunther topped the very limited running courtesy of a 1m39.517s laptime, which was 0.8s slower than Lucas di Grassi’s FP1 benchmark.
But Gunther, who failed to finish either race in the Saudi Arabia double-header event, did run 0.192s clear of next-best Nyck de Vries.
That led a Mercedes 2-3 finish ahead of Nissan e.dams runner Oliver Rowland and Dragon Muller.
Both teams were set to debut their new cars for the 2021 season in Rome but delays, with Nissan citing the pandemic as hindering parts supply, means those introductions will be held off until the Monaco E-Prix on 8 May.
With Oliver Turvey and Jean-Eric Vergne on the sidelines for second practice, along with Blomqvist and Dennis initially as a result of the earlier multi-car pile-up, only 20 drivers completed a lap.
Rome E-Prix - FP2 results:
Cla | # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 28 |
Maximilian Gunther
|
Andretti Autosport | 1'39.517 | |
2 | 17 |
Nyck de Vries
|
Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | 1'39.709 | 0.192 |
3 | 5 |
Stoffel Vandoorne
|
Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | 1'39.900 | 0.383 |
4 | 22 |
Oliver Rowland
|
DAMS | 1'39.924 | 0.407 |
5 | 6 |
Nico Müller
|
DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT | 1'39.961 | 0.444 |
6 | 37 |
Nick Cassidy
|
Virgin Racing | 1'40.042 | 0.525 |
7 | 20 |
Mitch Evans
|
Jaguar Racing | 1'40.232 | 0.715 |
8 | 99 |
Pascal Wehrlein
|
Porsche Team | 1'40.530 | 1.013 |
9 | 10 |
Sam Bird
|
Jaguar Racing | 1'40.995 | 1.478 |
10 | 13 |
Antonio Felix da Costa
|
Techeetah | 1'41.085 | 1.568 |
11 | 23 |
Sébastien Buemi
|
DAMS | 1'41.551 | 2.034 |
12 | 11 |
Lucas di Grassi
|
Team Abt | 1'41.691 | 2.174 |
13 | 7 |
Sergio Sette Camara
|
DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT | 1'41.924 | 2.407 |
14 | 33 |
René Rast
|
Team Abt | 1'42.027 | 2.510 |
15 | 94 |
Alex Lynn
|
Mahindra Racing | 1'42.606 | 3.089 |
16 | 29 |
Alexander Sims
|
Mahindra Racing | 1'43.262 | 3.745 |
17 | 71 |
Norman Nato
|
Venturi | 1'43.277 | 3.760 |
18 | 48 |
Edoardo Mortara
|
Venturi | 1'44.362 | 4.845 |
19 | 36 |
Andre Lotterer
|
Porsche Team | 1'51.099 | 11.582 |
20 | 4 |
Robin Frijns
|
Virgin Racing | 1'56.157 | 16.640 |
21 | 8 |
Oliver Turvey
|
NIO Formula E Team | ||
22 | 25 |
Jean-Eric Vergne
|
Techeetah | ||
23 | 27 |
Jake Dennis
|
Andretti Autosport | ||
24 | 88 |
Tom Blomqvist
|
NIO Formula E Team | ||
View full results |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Related video
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.
Top Comments