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Di Grassi and Rosenqvist top Zurich Formule E practices

Audi's Lucas di Grassi set the fastest time across the two practice sessions for today's Zurich E-Prix, the first motor racing event to take place in Switzerland since 1954

Di Grassi set his best time in the opening 45-minute session - a 1m11.995s - as he opted to complete a 200kW run early in the day.

Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne was eighth quickest in the combined times across the two sessions, with title rival Sam Bird one place ahead in seventh.

In hot and sunny conditions at the Zurich Street Circuit, which has been built on the shores of Lake Zurich and features the longest straight in FE history, most of the 20 drivers set their best times of the morning in the second 30-minute session.

Di Grassi finished that session 13th with his team-mate Daniel Abt 14th overall, 16th in the second running as the Audi squad concentrated on race simulations.

Mahindra's Felix Rosenqvist topped FP2 with a 1m12.207s, which was 0.212s slower than di Grassi's best overall, despite locking up and losing three tenths in the last sector.

Mitch Evans (Jaguar) had a dramatic FP2 but topped the times for the most of the session.

He was usurped by Rosenqvist after their second full-power runs and although he improved his overall fastest time, wound up third overall.

Evans also shot down the Turn 1 escape road, which is situated at the end of the bumpy start-finish straight, and then rubbed the barriers approaching the Turn 7/8 chicane in the closing minutes.

Jerome D'Ambrosio was fourth fastest overall, just ahead of his Dragon team-mate Jose Maria Lopez, who was involved in incidents throughout the morning.

In FP1, he was being closely followed by Bird as the pair approached Turn 1 when the Virgin driver lost the rear of his car approaching the corner and spun into the outside wall- damaging the suspension on his car and leading to them later exchaning words in pitlane.

Lopez followed Evans down the escape road in the final minutes of FP2 and was able to escape, before he lost his car at the same corner in the dying seconds of the session and hit the left barrier side-on, although he was able to carry on.

Alex Lynn was sixth overall, with Andre Lotterer - who hit the rear of Nico Prost at Turn 10 during FP2, damaging the Renault e.dams driver's left-rear bodywork - ninth overall.

Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi rounded out the overall top 10 and spun into the tight left-hand Turn 4 barriers five minutes before FP2's end.

He hit the wall square on with the rear of his car and was able to carry on.

Oliver Turvey, 15th in the overall times, and Antonio Felix da Costa were the other drivers to set their best practice times in FP1.

Da Costa, 19th overall, did not set a timed lap for much of FP2, ending up slowest in that session, due to an issue his Andretti team is currently investigating.

FP1 times

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Lucas di Grassi Audi Audi 1m11.995s
2 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 1.143s
3 Daniel Abt Audi Audi 1.397s
4 Nelson Piquet Jr. Jaguar Jaguar 1.403s
5 Oliver Turvey NIO NextEV NIO 1.406s
6 Sam Bird Virgin DS Virgin 1.576s
7 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah Renault 1.584s
8 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Mahindra 1.605s
9 Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 1.733s
10 Jose Maria Lopez Dragon Penske 1.769s
11 Andre Lotterer Techeetah Renault 1.783s
12 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Andretti 1.792s
13 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Penske 1.805s
14 Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 1.940s
15 Alex Lynn Virgin DS Virgin 2.038s
16 Edoardo Mortara Venturi Venturi 2.072s
17 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Mahindra 2.134s
18 Maro Engel Venturi Venturi 2.274s
19 Stephane Sarrazin Andretti Andretti 2.755s
20 Luca Filippi NIO NextEV NIO 2.947s

FP2 times

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Mahindra 1m12.207s
2 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 0.054s
3 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Penske 0.388s
4 Jose Maria Lopez Dragon Penske 0.394s
5 Alex Lynn Virgin DS Virgin 0.413s
6 Sam Bird Virgin DS Virgin 0.458s
7 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah Renault 0.477s
8 Andre Lotterer Techeetah Renault 0.595s
9 Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 0.641s
10 Nelson Piquet Jr. Jaguar Jaguar 0.688s
11 Maro Engel Venturi Venturi 0.704s
12 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Mahindra 0.761s
13 Lucas di Grassi Audi Audi 1.018s
14 Oliver Turvey NIO NextEV NIO 1.238s
15 Edoardo Mortara Venturi Venturi 1.268s
16 Daniel Abt Audi Audi 1.287s
17 Stephane Sarrazin Andretti Andretti 1.293s
18 Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 1.428s
19 Luca Filippi NIO NextEV NIO 1.614s
20 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Andretti 2.027s

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