Putrajaya Formula E: Sam Bird leads practice for Virgin
Sam Bird topped Formula E's single practice session on the Putrajaya street circuit in Malaysia
The Virgin Racing driver jumped from the midfield to the top with a 1m21.496s lap five minutes from the scheduled end of the session, and just two minutes before the session was prematurely stopped thanks to Nick Heidfeld crashing at Turn 3.
The German gave his Venturi entry the second damaging hit of its short career, following his spectacular crash on the final lap of the season-opener in Beijing.
Heidfeld wasn't the only driver to spark a red flag during practice in Putrajaya. Michela Cerruti's Trulli entry shed its left-rear wheel 25 minutes from the end, the stranded car causing a 15-minute stoppage.
The red flags prevented the expected flurry of quick times and qualifying simulations in the final minutes, meaning that Dragon Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio finished second with a 1m22.256s that he set half an hour from the end of the session.
Sebastien Buemi was third, his best of 1m22.256s coming more than 40 minutes from the end.
Oriol Servia finished fourth, ahead of e.Dams driver Nicolas Prost and Mahindra Racing's Karun Chandhok.
Rookie Matthew Brabham was seventh quickest, Franck Montagny eighth, Nelson Piquet Junior ninth, and Jarno Trulli 10th.
Race one winner Lucas di Grassi was just 13th in the Audi Sport Abt entry.
PRACTICE RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sam Bird | Virgin | 1m21.496s | - | 21 |
2 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Dragon | 1m22.043s | 0.547s | 19 |
3 | Sebastien Buemi | e.dams | 1m22.256s | 0.760s | 17 |
4 | Oriol Servia | Dragon | 1m22.584s | 1.088s | 19 |
5 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams | 1m22.674s | 1.178s | 21 |
6 | Karun Chandhok | Mahindra | 1m22.825s | 1.329s | 23 |
7 | Matthew Brabham | Andretti | 1m22.961s | 1.465s | 19 |
8 | Franck Montagny | Andretti | 1m23.287s | 1.791s | 10 |
9 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | China | 1m23.370s | 1.874s | 25 |
10 | Jarno Trulli | Trulli | 1m23.414s | 1.918s | 13 |
11 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra | 1m24.532s | 3.036s | 24 |
12 | Jaime Alguersuari | Virgin | 1m24.671s | 3.175s | 17 |
13 | Lucas di Grassi | Abt | 1m24.825s | 3.329s | 22 |
14 | Daniel Abt | Abt | 1m24.826s | 3.330s | 21 |
15 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | 1m25.287s | 3.791s | 17 |
16 | Nick Heidfeld | Venturi | 1m25.338s | 3.842s | 17 |
17 | Katherine Legge | Aguri | 1m26.174s | 4.678s | 14 |
18 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Aguri | 1m26.373s | 4.877s | 16 |
19 | Ho-Pin Tung | China | 1m26.620s | 5.124s | 22 |
20 | Michela Cerruti | Trulli | 1m27.360s | 5.864s | 15 |
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