Mexico City Formula E: Renault's Buemi fastest in free practice
Formula E championship leader Sebastien Buemi dominated free practice for the Mexico City ePrix
The Renault e.dams driver topped both sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where the all-electric series is racing on an altered version of the Formula 1 circuit.
Buemi left it until the final five minutes of the faster second session to post a new benchmark, ending FP2 fastest with a 1m03.341s.
That put him a quarter of a second clear of Daniel Abt, who set his lap before suffering a gearbox issue.
Abt's team-mate Lucas di Grassi was a further 0.15s back as Abt Audi Sport looks to consolidate its position as the Renault squad's nearest challenger.
Nicolas Prost was almost half a second slower than team-mate Buemi in FP2, and not much faster than Venturi's Mike Conway and the impressive Oliver Turvey for NEXTEV TCR.
The tricky 18-corner circuit brought mistakes from several drivers, with Buenos Aires ePrix victor Sam Bird's spin at the Turn 1 chicane and a similar mistake error by Bruno Senna at Turn 13 the most notable.
Home favourite Salvador Duran stopped on track thanks to a suspected software glitch and brought out a red flag.
Buemi had earlier been the only driver to dip below the 1m04s mark in FP1, which was considerably colder than the second session.
His 1m03.995s knocked Turvey from a rare stint atop the times in the NEXTEV TCR 001, with the Briton ending up third quickest after a late improvement from Loic Duval.
The opening session passed largely without incident, save for a few lock-ups and a red flag for the stopped Simona de Silvestro.
MEXICO CITY QUALIFYING GROUPS
Group 1
Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi
Loic Duval, Dragon Racing
Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing
Group 2
Jerome D'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams
Lucas di Grassi, Abt Audi Sport
Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing
Group 3
Nico Prost, Renault e.dams
Antonio Felix da Costa, Team Aguri
Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Autosport
Daniel Abt, Abt Audi Sport
Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR
Group 4
Salvador Duran, Team Aguri
Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing
Mike Conway, Venturi
Robin Frijns, Andretti Autosport
PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastien Buemi | e.dams | Renault | 1m03.995s | - | 29 |
2 | Loic Duval | Dragon | Venturi | 1m04.362s | 0.367s | 28 |
3 | Oliver Turvey | China | NEXTEV TCR | 1m05.067s | 1.072s | 30 |
4 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams | Renault | 1m05.149s | 1.154s | 28 |
5 | Daniel Abt | Abt | ABT Schaeffler | 1m05.188s | 1.193s | 26 |
6 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Dragon | Venturi | 1m05.257s | 1.262s | 30 |
7 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | Venturi | 1m05.273s | 1.278s | 30 |
8 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra | Mahindra | 1m05.274s | 1.279s | 24 |
9 | Lucas di Grassi | Abt | ABT Schaeffler | 1m05.287s | 1.292s | 22 |
10 | Mike Conway | Venturi | Venturi | 1m05.388s | 1.393s | 28 |
11 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | China | NEXTEV TCR | 1m05.406s | 1.411s | 31 |
12 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Aguri | Spark | 1m05.465s | 1.470s | 16 |
13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Virgin | Virgin | 1m05.681s | 1.686s | 18 |
14 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra | Mahindra | 1m05.817s | 1.822s | 27 |
15 | Salvador Duran | Aguri | Spark | 1m05.944s | 1.949s | 31 |
16 | Sam Bird | Virgin | Virgin | 1m05.994s | 1.999s | 26 |
17 | Robin Frijns | Andretti | Spark | 1m06.051s | 2.056s | 20 |
18 | Simona de Silvestro | Andretti | Spark | 1m06.289s | 2.294s | 21 |
PRACTICE TWO RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastien Buemi | e.dams | Renault | 1m03.341s | - | 21 |
2 | Daniel Abt | Abt | ABT Schaeffler | 1m03.599s | 0.258s | 14 |
3 | Lucas di Grassi | Abt | ABT Schaeffler | 1m03.748s | 0.407s | 15 |
4 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams | Renault | 1m03.818s | 0.477s | 21 |
5 | Mike Conway | Venturi | Venturi | 1m03.910s | 0.569s | 23 |
6 | Oliver Turvey | China | NEXTEV TCR | 1m03.964s | 0.623s | 16 |
7 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Dragon | Venturi | 1m04.201s | 0.860s | 16 |
8 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | Venturi | 1m04.244s | 0.903s | 14 |
9 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Virgin | Virgin | 1m04.605s | 1.264s | 19 |
10 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | China | NEXTEV TCR | 1m04.620s | 1.279s | 15 |
11 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra | Mahindra | 1m04.648s | 1.307s | 19 |
12 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra | Mahindra | 1m04.701s | 1.360s | 13 |
13 | Robin Frijns | Andretti | Spark | 1m04.706s | 1.365s | 13 |
14 | Loic Duval | Dragon | Venturi | 1m04.897s | 1.556s | 18 |
15 | Sam Bird | Virgin | Virgin | 1m04.900s | 1.559s | 17 |
16 | Simona de Silvestro | Andretti | Spark | 1m05.275s | 1.934s | 19 |
17 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Aguri | Spark | 1m05.446s | 2.105s | 4 |
18 | Salvador Duran | Aguri | Spark | 1m05.614s | 2.273s | 5 |
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