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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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