Jakarta E-Prix: Vergne leads DS Techeetah's late Formula E FP2 sweep

Da Costa had only just cleared Jake Dennis from the top of the FP2 times, the 2019-20 champion logging a 1m07.993s to go quickest at the chequered flag, but Vergne put his car on top even later into the session to hammer home a clear Techeetah advantage.

As the mercury pushed 32 degrees C in time for FP2, the drivers had to intersperse their laps with tentative cooldown tours to ensure the tyres were not too punished by the escalating track temperatures.

This ensured that traffic proved to be a difficult factor to manage throughout the session, with a number of promising laps failing to yield consistent performance across all three sectors.

Lucas di Grassi was first into the 1m08s, logging a 1m08.750s to set an early marker - where he was followed into the same bracket by Nissan e.dams duo Sebastien Buemi and Maximilian Guenther.

The Brazilian driver was then dispatched from top spot by points leader Stoffel Vandoorne, who found a tenth and a half over the Venturi ace.

Sergio Sette Camara looked good to kick Vandoorne off the top, but a less successful final sector contrived to place the Dragon Penske driver in third, behind compatriot di Grassi.

Pascal Wehrlein then hustled his Porsche to the leading time, clocking a 1m08.410s to beat di Grassi's best lap from FP1 despite losing a smidgen of time in the final sector.

But it was then the turn of the NIO 333 pair to bask in the sun as Oliver Turvey shaded Wehrlein's time by 0.031s, but was immediately displaced by Dan Ticktum who scorched to a 1m08.338s.

As the session then ticked down into its final 10 minutes, Jake Dennis powered to the top of the timing boards with a 1m08.253s, but the Avalanche Andretti had to see off an assault from Edoardo Mortara and Mitch Evans.

Neither driver beat his time, and Dennis even had a chance to beat his own chart-topper - but ultimately trailed it by under half a tenth.

But just as it looked good for Dennis, the brace of DS Techeetahs catapulted their way to the top of the times to move the Brit down to third.

Antonio Felix da Costa, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21, Lucas di Grassi, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Evans and Mortara closed out FP2 in fourth and fifth, ahead of Ticktum and Turvey, while Wehrlein was eighth - a tenth clear of arguably ninth-place Antonio Giovinazzi's best lap in Formula E so far.

Turvey and Ticktum set the first representative laps of FP1, the latter managing a 1m13.561 off the bat as the new track surface was slowly dusted down.

The times quickly dropped into the 1m10s, Buemi pouncing ahead of Jake Dennis to grab a 1m10.283s - the Swiss driver having been the first driver to take to the track in Friday's shakedown.

Evans then brought the session into the 1m09s, before being quickly shuffled down a place by Dennis, before di Grassi threw his first proper effort into the mix and stood fastest with a 1m09.766s.

Jaguar's Evans then linked up with top spot once more, setting a 1m09.246s, as Pascal Wehrlein and Sam Bird then wedged themselves into the top three before the halfway point of the session.

Wehrlein carries a five-place grid penalty for Jakarta as a result of the FIA seals being broken on one of his two DCDC units.

Jean-Eric Vergne then punched in the first 250kW lap of the session to go fastest, posting a 1m08.703s, which went unchallenged for a good portion of the session despite challenges from Dennis and Andre Lotterer on full power - as Oliver Rowland came across traffic in Antonio Giovinazzi which meant he was unable to eclipse Vergne either.

Di Grassi did, however, returning to the top of the timing board with a 1m08.538s - with Dennis finding a lap just 0.018s down.

But at the chequered flag, Rowland peeled past di Grassi with a 1m08.433s to head FP1, with former team-mate Buemi firing up to second at the death with a lap just 0.09s down on the Mahindra driver.

Formula E Jakarta E-Prix FP2 results

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	1'07.594
2	Antonio Felix da Costa	Techeetah	1'07.993	0.399
3	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport	1'08.253	0.659
4	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1'08.268	0.674
5	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	1'08.306	0.712
6	Dan Ticktum	NIO Formula E Team	1'08.338	0.744
7	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	1'08.379	0.785
8	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	1'08.410	0.816
9	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon Racing	1'08.526	0.932
10	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1'08.534	0.940
11	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	1'08.552	0.958
12	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	1'08.647	1.053
13	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	1'08.671	1.077
14	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1'08.683	1.089
15	Sergio Sette Camara	Dragon Racing	1'08.693	1.099
16	Nick Cassidy	Virgin Racing	1'08.701	1.107
17	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi	1'08.750	1.156
18	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1'08.774	1.180
19	Andre Lotterer	Porsche Team	1'08.782	1.188
20	Maximilian Gunther	DAMS	1'08.994	1.400
21	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing	1'09.013	1.419
22	Oliver Askew	Andretti Autosport	1'09.697	2.103
View full results

Formula E Jakarta E-Prix FP1 results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	18
2	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	18	0.090
3	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi	21	0.105
4	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport	19	0.123
5	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	18	0.135
6	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	20	0.183
7	Antonio Felix da Costa	Techeetah	18	0.231
8	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	21	0.234
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	21	0.365
10	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing	15	0.416
11	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	21	0.417
12	Andre Lotterer	Porsche Team	20	0.456
13	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	21	0.527
14	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	21	0.668
15	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	20	0.687
16	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	21	0.780
17	Oliver Askew	Andretti Autosport	18	0.842
18	Maximilian Gunther	DAMS	18	0.859
19	Dan Ticktum	NIO Formula E Team	21	1.078
20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon Racing	20	1.098
21	Sergio Sette Camara	Dragon Racing	19	1.276
22	Nick Cassidy	Virgin Racing	19	1.293
View full results