Yahoo Autos Nato, Vergne tied atop FP2 time sheets at Shanghai E-Prix
After winding up second in Friday’s first practice session, Norman Nato moved to the top of the times in FP2 for the Shanghai E-Prix, setting an identical time to Jean-Eric Vergne.
The Andretti driver’s time of 1m13.430 was matched by the DS Penske man, who ended up second only by setting his time later in the session – that time being a couple of tenths off Friday’s fastest by virtue of the cooler conditions. The top three itself was covered by just 0.0013s, with TAG Heuer Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein P3.
Stoffel Vandoorne in the second DS Pesnke was fourth, just over a tenth of a second of the fastest time, with Nyck de Vries going fifth quickest in his Mahindra after having an interrupted first practice as one of several drivers affected by battery software issues.
Sacha Fenestraz was the highest-placed Nissan runner in sixth, ahead of Berlin E-Prix race two winner Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche), with Robin Frijns (Envision Racing), Nick Cassidy (Jaguar TCS Racing), and Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG) rounding out the top 10.
FP1 pacesetter Mitch Evans was a quarter of a second off the session best in 12th for Jaguar, behind Abt Cupra’s Nico Mueller, but ahead of reigning champion, Andretti’s Jake Dennis, with veterans Sebastien Buemi (Envision) and Lucas di Grassi (Abt Cupra) next up.
Rowland was 16th quickest for Nissan, ahead of the ERT pairing of Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara, with Edorardo Mortara (Mahindra), Jehan Daruvala (Maserati), and the NEOM McLarens of Sam Bird and Jake Hughes completing the field.
As with Friday’s FP1 session, all runners completed their best times using the full allocation of 350 kW. In addition to going quickest, Nato also completed the most laps with 21, along with Daruvala, while both Cassidy and Guenther completed the fewest, doing just 16 laps during the 30 minute session. The whole field was covered by just 0.572s.
