FP1
DS Virgin’s Jose Maria Lopez topped the timings in the first free practice session of his first home ePrix.
The Argentinian was one of only a handful of drivers that managed to set a lap running at 200kW as Andretti’s Antonio Felix Da Costa brought out two red flags in the 42 minute session.
The first incident came only a lap after Da Costa was praised for pushing his car right to the limit. The Portuguese driver ran close to the walls as he made his way to P3, just behind teammate Robin Frijns and early leader Nelson Piquet.
The following lap didn’t go so smoothly as he lost control on the exit of turn six and hit the barriers. Initially, Da Costa was worried about his gearbox, but said there didn’t seem to be a problem with it when he peeked under the car whilst it was still on the track.
After the MS Amlin Andretti car had been hauled back to the pits, the green flags were brought back out and the times began to tumble again. Piquet quickly lost the top spot as a number of drivers set purple laps, before Bird eventually took the top spot.
With the clock ticking down, the 200kW laps began to come in. Drivers are limited to only 170kW during the race, but are allowed 200kW in qualifying.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and Adam Carroll were the first to set times with 200kW of power, but Carroll ran into trouble in his middle sector and couldn’t jump up through the timings. Lopez too set a qualifying simulation lap that took him to the top of the timings.
Evans was denied second by Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne. The Frenchman had suffered from lock ups earlier in the session, but managed to put a 170kW lap together to set a time just over half a second slower than Lopez, making him the fastest man with only 170kW of power.
Before everybody else could start their qualifying simulations, Da Costa ran into trouble again. Now in his second car, Da Costa stopped on track, bringing out the yellow flags.
Virgin, hoping the car could be cleared in time, sent Sam Bird out on a 200kW lap, only for the red flags to be brought out due to the stuck Andretti. The session did not restart.
Current points leader Sebastien Buemi had a fairly anonymous session, finishing the first practice session of 2017 fourth – second of the 170kW runners.
Full results below:
FP2
A last minute lap put DS Virgin’s Sam Bird at the top of the timings in the second free practice session at Buenos Aires. The Brit’s time was set just after Lucas Di Grassi collided with a wall, bringing out the yellow flags.
Making up for lost time in FP2 meant times were quick to tumble at the start of the session with most of the drivers getting a taste of qualifying with 200kW laps, and we were met with the usual suspects at the top of the timings.
Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist was ahead of ABT’s Lucas Di Grassi and Renault e.dam’s Sebastien Buemi when a red flag paused the session.
Dragon Racing’s Loic Duval has spent the first half of the practice in the pits, but was finally given the all clear to head out. He’d only compleded a handful of laps when a bolt sprung free from the Frenchman’s car, sending the wheel rolling away from the car. Duval stopped on track and the session was haulted.
On the restart there was a queue to get out of the pits as the time ticked on. The session was extended by five minutes due to the lengthy delay, leaving just under ten minutes on the clock when the green flag returned to the track.
Again, the times immedietly tumbled as drivers set their final laps before qualifying. The number of personal bests in the first sector showed the extent of how much everyone was pushing.
Di Grassi, however, was pushing just a little too hard, colliding with a wall in the second sector of the track. The Brazilian managed to keep control and parked his car out of the way, but there was significant damage to the front of his ABT Schaeffler Audi machine and he was forced to walk back to the pits.
Bird was behind Di Grassi on track, but told the team over the radio that he slowed down as he passed through the yellow flags that were out due to the Brazilian’s car. Still, the Brit was able to set the fastest lap of the session, knocking Rosenqvist from his number one spot.
Full results below:
FP1 results
1 – Jose Maria Lopez – DS Virgin Racing
2 – Jean Eric Vergne – Techeetah
3 – Mitch Evans – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
4 – Sebastien Buemi – Renault e.dams
5 – Sam Bird – DS Virgin Racing
6 – Felix Rosenqvist – Mahindra Racing
7 – Nico Prost – Renault e.dams
8 – Nico Heidfeld – Mahindra Racing
9 – Lucas Di Grassi – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
10 – Oliver Turvey – NextEV NIO
11 – Nelson Piquet – Nextev NIO
12 – Loic Duval – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
13 – Robin Frijns – MS Amlin Andretti
14 – Antonio Felix Da Costa – MS Amlin Andretti
15 - Stephane Sarrazin - Venturi
16 – Jerome D’Ambrosio – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
17 – Adam Carroll – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
18 – Daniel Abt – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
19 – Ma Qing Hua – Techeetah
20 – Maro Engel – Venturi
FP2 results
1 – Sam Bird – DS Virgin Racing
2 – Felix Rosenqvist – Mahindra Racing
3 – Lucas Di Grassi – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
4 – Sebastien Buemi – Renault e.dams
5 – Robin Frijns – MS Amlin Andretti
6 – Nelson Piquet – Nextev NIO
7 – Oliver Turvey – NextEV NIO
8 – Jean Eric Vergne – Techeetah
9 – Nico Prost – Renault e.dams
10 – Maro Engel – Venturi
11 – Daniel Abt – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
12 – Antonio Felix Da Costa – MS Amlin Andretti
13 – Nick Heidfeld – Mahindra Racing
14 - Stephane Sarrazin - Venturi
15 – Ma Qing Hua – Techeetah
16 – Mitch Evans – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
17 – Jose Maria Lopez – DS Virgin Racing
18 – Jerome D’Ambrosio – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
19 – Loic Duval – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
20 – Adam Carroll – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
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