Practice report
Formula E Sanya E-prix
Sanya E-Prix: Buemi sets practice pace for Nissan
Nissan e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi set the fastest time across the two practice sessions for ABB FIA Formula E’s inaugural race at Sanya, despite hitting the barriers head-on during FP2.
Edited: Mar 23, 2019, 2:39 AM
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Buemi set a best time of 1m07.288s to depose long-time FP2 leader Antonio Felix da Costa and go fastest by 0.109s.
That session-topping time from Buemi came just 10 minutes after he had crashed into the barriers at the exit of Turn 3 – the left-hander where the track’s attack mode activation zone is located.
He appeared to have an issue mid-corner and went nose-first into the barriers as result, but was able to reverse away and head back to the pits for repairs.
Buemi rejoined the action late-on and set the quickest time with just over two minutes of the second session remaining.
Oliver Rowland, who had topped the opening 45-minute FP1 session, set the third fastest time in the other Nissan.
Behind Rowland came Mahindra's Jerome d’Ambrosio and DS Techeetah driver Jean-Eric Vergne, who finished just 0.177s adrift of Buemi’s best effort in fifth despite visibly struggling with the handling of his car during FP1 – where he ended up seventh.
During FP2, the cameras captured Vergne gesticulating furiously towards Jaguar’s Nelson Piquet Jr as they ran through the penultimate corner during the early running.
Hong Kong winner Edoardo Mortara finished sixth fastest for Venturi, ahead of Audi’s Lucas di Grassi and the Dragon Racing pair Felipe Nasr and Jose Maria Lopez.
Lopez was one of several drivers to have a major lock-up at the Turn 8 hairpin, which is likely to be a major overtaking spot in the race
Current drivers’ championship leader Sam Bird ended up just outside the top 10 in FP2, 0.427s slower than Buemi.
Stoffel Vandoorne (HWA) led Felipe Massa (Venturi) and Andre Lotterer (DS Techeetah) in positions 12-14, ahead of Daniel Abt (Audi) and Robin Frijns, who scraped his Envision Virgin Racing car along the Sanya circuit’s walls on a number of occasions during FP1.
But Frijns did not cause any major damage to his car.
Piquet had to climb out of his car early on in FP2, the reason for which was an FIA-requested halo light battery change, which was confirmed by Piquet’s Jaguar team.
Alexander Sims ended up 20th during FP2 in the second BMW Andretti-run car, ahead HWA’s Gary Paffett and Mahindra Racing driver Pascal Wehrlein.
Both Paffett and Wehrlein hit the wall going through Turn 6, which is an acceleration zone right-hand blast that leads onto the long run – officially Turn 7 – heading down to the hairpin.
Wehrlein struck the wall first and appeared to hit it harder with his left-rear wheel, while Paffett seemed to strike it more square-on.
Both drivers were able to recover to the pits.
FP1 Results:
Cla # Driver Team Time Gap 1 22 
Oliver Rowland 
DAMS 1'07.561 2 28 
Antonio Felix da Costa 
Andretti Autosport 1'07.625 0.064 3 27 
Alexander Sims 
Andretti Autosport 1'07.751 0.190 4 11 
Lucas di Grassi 
Team Abt 1'07.752 0.191 5 23 
Sébastien Buemi 
DAMS 1'07.858 0.297 6 4 
Robin Frijns 
Virgin Racing 1'07.971 0.410 7 25 
Jean-Eric Vergne 
Techeetah 1'08.019 0.458 8 64 
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 
Mahindra Racing 1'08.159 0.598 9 20 
Mitch Evans 
Jaguar Racing 1'08.221 0.660 10 66 
Daniel Abt 
Team Abt 1'08.299 0.738 11 5 
Stoffel Vandoorne HWA AG 1'08.302 0.741 12 48 Edoardo Mortara 
Venturi 1'08.329 0.768 13 94 
Pascal Wehrlein 
Mahindra Racing 1'08.523 0.962 14 17 
Gary Paffett HWA AG 1'08.548 0.987 15 2 
Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1'08.550 0.989 16 6 
Felipe Nasr Dragon Racing 1'08.676 1.115 17 16 Oliver Turvey NIO Formula E Team 1'08.821 1.260 18 3 
Nelson Piquet Jr. Jaguar Racing 1'08.822 1.261 19 19 
Felipe Massa 
Venturi 1'09.128 1.567 20 7 
Jose Maria Lopez Dragon Racing 1'09.270 1.709 21 8 
Tom Dillmann 
NIO Formula E Team 1'09.285 1.724 22 36 Andre Lotterer 
Techeetah 1'09.654 2.093
FP2 results:
Cla # Driver Team Time Gap 1 23 
Sébastien Buemi DAMS 1'07.288 2 28 
Antonio Felix da Costa 
Andretti Autosport 1'07.397 0.109 3 22 Oliver Rowland DAMS 1'07.453 0.165 4 64 
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 
Mahindra Racing 1'07.456 0.168 5 25 
Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah 1'07.465 0.177 6 48 
Edoardo Mortara Venturi 1'07.528 0.240 7 20 
Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing 1'07.578 0.290 8 11 Lucas di Grassi 
Team Abt 1'07.578 0.290 9 6 
Felipe Nasr Dragon Racing 1'07.647 0.359 10 7 
Jose Maria Lopez 
Dragon Racing 1'07.657 0.369 11 2 Sam Bird 
Virgin Racing 1'07.715 0.427 12 5 Stoffel Vandoorne HWA AG 1'07.808 0.520 13 19 
Felipe Massa 
Venturi 1'07.917 0.629 14 36 
Andre Lotterer 
Techeetah 1'07.952 0.664 15 66 
Daniel Abt Team Abt 1'08.049 0.761 16 4 Robin Frijns Virgin Racing 1'08.277 0.989 17 8 
Tom Dillmann 
NIO Formula E Team 1'08.416 1.128 18 16 Oliver Turvey NIO Formula E Team 1'08.433 1.145 19 3 
Nelson Piquet Jr. 
Jaguar Racing 1'08.661 1.373 20 27 Alexander Sims 
Andretti Autosport 1'08.732 1.444 21 17 Gary Paffett HWA AG 1'09.240 1.952 22 94 Pascal Wehrlein 
Mahindra Racing 1'09.905 2.617
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