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Putrajaya Formula E: Sam Bird leads practice for Virgin

Sam Bird topped Formula E's single practice session on the Putrajaya street circuit in Malaysia

The Virgin Racing driver jumped from the midfield to the top with a 1m21.496s lap five minutes from the scheduled end of the session, and just two minutes before the session was prematurely stopped thanks to Nick Heidfeld crashing at Turn 3.

The German gave his Venturi entry the second damaging hit of its short career, following his spectacular crash on the final lap of the season-opener in Beijing.

Heidfeld wasn't the only driver to spark a red flag during practice in Putrajaya. Michela Cerruti's Trulli entry shed its left-rear wheel 25 minutes from the end, the stranded car causing a 15-minute stoppage.

The red flags prevented the expected flurry of quick times and qualifying simulations in the final minutes, meaning that Dragon Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio finished second with a 1m22.256s that he set half an hour from the end of the session.

Sebastien Buemi was third, his best of 1m22.256s coming more than 40 minutes from the end.

Oriol Servia finished fourth, ahead of e.Dams driver Nicolas Prost and Mahindra Racing's Karun Chandhok.

Rookie Matthew Brabham was seventh quickest, Franck Montagny eighth, Nelson Piquet Junior ninth, and Jarno Trulli 10th.

Race one winner Lucas di Grassi was just 13th in the Audi Sport Abt entry.

PRACTICE RESULTS:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Sam Bird Virgin 1m21.496s - 21
2 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon 1m22.043s 0.547s 19
3 Sebastien Buemi e.dams 1m22.256s 0.760s 17
4 Oriol Servia Dragon 1m22.584s 1.088s 19
5 Nicolas Prost e.dams 1m22.674s 1.178s 21
6 Karun Chandhok Mahindra 1m22.825s 1.329s 23
7 Matthew Brabham Andretti 1m22.961s 1.465s 19
8 Franck Montagny Andretti 1m23.287s 1.791s 10
9 Nelson Piquet Jr. China 1m23.370s 1.874s 25
10 Jarno Trulli Trulli 1m23.414s 1.918s 13
11 Bruno Senna Mahindra 1m24.532s 3.036s 24
12 Jaime Alguersuari Virgin 1m24.671s 3.175s 17
13 Lucas di Grassi Abt 1m24.825s 3.329s 22
14 Daniel Abt Abt 1m24.826s 3.330s 21
15 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1m25.287s 3.791s 17
16 Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1m25.338s 3.842s 17
17 Katherine Legge Aguri 1m26.174s 4.678s 14
18 Antonio Felix da Costa Aguri 1m26.373s 4.877s 16
19 Ho-Pin Tung China 1m26.620s 5.124s 22
20 Michela Cerruti Trulli 1m27.360s 5.864s 15

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