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Berlin Formula E: Lucas di Grassi fastest in practice

Formula E championship leader Lucas di Grassi topped free practice for the German round of the series at Berlin Tempelhof

The Brazilian, driving for the Abt squad, lapped the airport circuit in a time of 1m22.032s to beat e.DAMS driver Nicolas Prost by 0.160 seconds in the quicker second free practice session.

Di Grassi was only 11th in early-morning practice after suffering a brief spin, but did not use the full 200kW qualifying-specification power, so his pace in the second session makes him favourite to take his maiden Formula E pole position later on Saturday.

It was a strong performance from di Grassi, who was also fastest in the first half of the second session, and was visibly hustling the car.

Jerome d'Ambrosio was third fastest, setting a time just five-thousandths slower than Prost in the closing stages of the session.

Virgin's Jaime Alguersuari, who had been third fastest in the first session, headed a trio of ex-Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 drivers in fourth, fifth and sixth places, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Scott Speed just behind him.

Nelson Piquet Jr was seventh fastest ahead of first-session pacesetter Sebastien Buemi.

Buemi had topped the earlier session by just over a second-and-a-half ahead of Nick Heidfeld, but although he improved his laptime in the second it was only good enough for eighth.

Antonio Felix da Costa and Loic Duval rounded out the top 10.

Two drivers who were in the top half of the field in the first session failed to replicate that form in the second.

Daniel Abt was sixth in the first, but slowest in the second, with Venturi driver Stephane Sarrazin slipping from ninth to 16th.

The first session was twice interrupted by red flags; one to tend to the timing system, which has to be laid on the track surface, and the other to reposition a marker bollard that had been dislodged, but the second ran smoothly.

PRACTICE ONE:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Sebastien Buemi e.dams 1m23.158s - 16
2 Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1m24.731s 1.573s 18
3 Jaime Alguersuari Virgin 1m24.782s 1.624s 16
4 Jean-Eric Vergne Andretti 1m24.870s 1.712s 18
5 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon 1m25.017s 1.859s 17
6 Daniel Abt Abt 1m25.021s 1.863s 19
7 Scott Speed Andretti 1m25.105s 1.947s 16
8 Loic Duval Dragon 1m25.123s 1.965s 18
9 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1m25.127s 1.969s 18
10 Nicolas Prost e.dams 1m25.135s 1.977s 19
11 Lucas di Grassi Abt 1m25.183s 2.025s 18
12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Trulli 1m25.269s 2.111s 15
13 Nelson Piquet Jr. China 1m25.342s 2.184s 19
14 Sam Bird Virgin 1m25.370s 2.212s 19
15 Charles Pic China 1m25.442s 2.284s 19
16 Antonio Felix da Costa Aguri 1m25.448s 2.290s 19
17 Jarno Trulli Trulli 1m25.465s 2.307s 16
18 Bruno Senna Mahindra 1m25.474s 2.316s 18
19 Salvador Duran Aguri 1m25.648s 2.490s 18
20 Karun Chandhok Mahindra 1m25.814s 2.656s 17

PRACTICE TWO:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Lucas di Grassi Abt 1m22.032s - 11
2 Nicolas Prost e.dams 1m22.192s 0.160s 17
3 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon 1m22.197s 0.165s 16
4 Jaime Alguersuari Virgin 1m22.255s 0.223s 15
5 Jean-Eric Vergne Andretti 1m22.260s 0.228s 13
6 Scott Speed Andretti 1m22.308s 0.276s 14
7 Nelson Piquet Jr. China 1m22.416s 0.384s 16
8 Sebastien Buemi e.dams 1m22.452s 0.420s 16
9 Antonio Felix da Costa Aguri 1m22.584s 0.552s 11
10 Loic Duval Dragon 1m22.601s 0.569s 17
11 Charles Pic China 1m22.763s 0.731s 17
12 Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1m22.820s 0.788s 11
13 Sam Bird Virgin 1m22.856s 0.824s 14
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi Trulli 1m22.977s 0.945s 15
15 Bruno Senna Mahindra 1m22.982s 0.950s 14
16 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1m23.315s 1.283s 15
17 Karun Chandhok Mahindra 1m23.342s 1.310s 18
18 Salvador Duran Aguri 1m23.452s 1.420s 15
19 Jarno Trulli Trulli 1m23.882s 1.850s 15
20 Daniel Abt Abt 1m24.773s 2.741s 14


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