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Formula E: Lucas Di Grassi tops practice in Paris

Last year's Paris ePrix winner Lucas di Grassi topped practice for Formula E's return to the French capital

The Abt Audi Sport driver left it to the dying moments of the second session to go quickest by two tenths of a second.

Di Grassi and championship leader Sebastien Buemi were among several drivers to leave it late to carry out a 200kW lap in FP2.

In the closing minutes of the session Jose Maria Lopez was quickest on a 1m01.559s, which Buemi could not quite match on a last-minute qualifying simulation and ended up 0.022s adrift of in his Renault e.dams machine.

Moments later di Grassi vaulted to the top with a 1m01.359s, fractionally faster than Mike Conway's practice benchmark last year.

Daniel Abt backed up the Audi-backed team's pace with the fourth-fastest time, just 0.01s slower than first-practice pacesetter Buemi.

The track appears slower here than last year, despite warmer temperatures due to the race taking place a month later, with no real improvement in laptimes.

Turn 1 continued to catch drivers out, with di Grassi and Lopez among several drivers to lock up and run deep into the run-off area.

Jean-Eric Vergne's attempt at a 200kW was scruffy and only good enough to ninth ahead of qualifying for his home race, as the Renault-powered Frenchman seeks to end his Formula E win drought.

Apart from a lurid slide at Turn 14 the returning Conway performed well standing in for the DTM-competing Loic Duval at Faraday Future Dragon Racing.

After running seventh in FP1 he was only 16th fastest, but lapped just 0.033s slower than team-mate Jerome d'Ambrosio.

Formula E debutant Tom Dillmann, in for Maro Engel (also on DTM duty) at Venturi, was 18th, 1.4s off the pace and three tenths slower than Stephane Sarrazin in the same car.

Oliver Turvey, who was eighth quickest in FP2, takes a 10-place grid penalty into qualifying.

The British driver's NextEV team has replaced the motor on his NEXTEV TCR002 powertrain, the second time this season it has done so.

That breaches Article 28.2 of the sporting regulations, which dictates a driver only has one free change of motor, inverter or gearbox each season.

Anyone crashes between T12 and T13 in qualifying will have their lap disallowed. This is to prevent abuse of the timing line exiting T13.

FIRST PRACTICE TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 1m01.998s - 22
2 Jose Maria Lopez Virgin DS Virgin 1m02.715s 0.717s 26
3 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah Renault 1m03.039s 1.041s 30
4 Lucas di Grassi Abt ABT Schaeffler 1m03.061s 1.063s 29
5 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Mahindra 1m03.064s 1.066s 30
6 Sam Bird Virgin DS Virgin 1m03.068s 1.070s 18
7 Mike Conway Dragon Penske 1m03.248s 1.250s 28
8 Nelson Piquet Jr. NextEV NEXTEV TCR 1m03.326s 1.328s 29
9 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Mahindra 1m03.360s 1.362s 27
10 Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 1m03.396s 1.398s 24
11 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 1m03.437s 1.439s 27
12 Robin Frijns Andretti Andretti 1m03.451s 1.453s 27
13 Daniel Abt Abt ABT Schaeffler 1m03.591s 1.593s 30
14 Oliver Turvey NextEV NEXTEV TCR 1m03.619s 1.621s 30
15 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Penske 1m03.775s 1.777s 24
16 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Andretti 1m03.848s 1.850s 31
17 Tom Dillmann Venturi Venturi 1m03.864s 1.866s 29
18 Esteban Gutierrez Techeetah Renault 1m03.888s 1.890s 23
19 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi Venturi 1m04.052s 2.054s 27
20 Adam Carroll Jaguar Jaguar 1m04.201s 2.203s 29

SECOND PRACTICE TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Lucas di Grassi Abt ABT Schaeffler 1m01.359s - 21
2 Jose Maria Lopez Virgin DS Virgin 1m01.559s 0.200s 20
3 Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 1m01.581s 0.222s 20
4 Daniel Abt Abt ABT Schaeffler 1m01.591s 0.232s 23
5 Sam Bird Virgin DS Virgin 1m01.605s 0.246s 14
6 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Mahindra 1m01.707s 0.348s 20
7 Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 1m01.808s 0.449s 16
8 Oliver Turvey NextEV NEXTEV TCR 1m01.923s 0.564s 19
9 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah Renault 1m02.031s 0.672s 20
10 Robin Frijns Andretti Andretti 1m02.271s 0.912s 17
11 Nelson Piquet Jr. NextEV NEXTEV TCR 1m02.296s 0.937s 15
12 Esteban Gutierrez Techeetah Renault 1m02.328s 0.969s 15
13 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi Venturi 1m02.419s 1.060s 22
14 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 1m02.463s 1.104s 19
15 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Penske 1m02.492s 1.133s 19
16 Mike Conway Dragon Penske 1m02.525s 1.166s 18
17 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Andretti 1m02.573s 1.214s 13
18 Tom Dillmann Venturi Venturi 1m02.789s 1.430s 25
19 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Mahindra 1m02.929s 1.570s 14
20 Adam Carroll Jaguar Jaguar 1m03.137s 1.778s 18


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