Beijing ePrix: Prost heads Buemi in Friday test as Renault dominates
The Renault e.DAMS team dominated the first collective session of the second season of the FIA Formula E Championship at Beijing.
Photo by: Guillaume Navarro
Nicolas Prost headed the closest non-Renault powered car by a massive 2.114s during the 30-minute session.
The Frenchman’s 1m37.291s, set on his final lap, was almost eight seconds quicker than last year’s official race lap record set by Takuma Sato.
The time was also four seconds faster than last year’s pole lap, which was, however, set on a track which featured one more chicane.
The other DAMS driver Sebastien Buemi was 0.631s adrift of his teammate in second place, while Jean-Eric Vergne took his DS Virgin car to third on a 1m39.405s.
The Renault e.DAMS squad also completed the most laps of any team with a combined total of 28 tours of the 3.439-kilometre Beijing circuit.
The pair of Mahindra Racing cars of Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld placed fourth and fifth respectively in the new Mahindra M2ELECTRO entries.
Reigning champions NEXTEV had a mixed session with Oliver Turvey rounding out the top six in, but teammate and reigning champion Nelson Piquet causing a red flag midway through the session when he stopped his car at Turn 10 with a mechanical problem.
Other incidents that occurred during the half an hour included several trips down the escape roads at Turns 4 and 5, with Piquet and Nathanael Berthon locking their brakes in spectacular fashion.
All bar the Trulli Formula E drivers registered times this afternoon. The Italian team has been delayed in completing their cars after apparent customs hold-ups in getting parts for their new Motomatica JT-01 to be put together ahead of the mandatory technical checks.
Their participation in the meeting is understood to be in grave doubt and an official FIA bulletin on the situation is expected later today.
Practice, qualifying and the Beijing ePrix itself all take place on Saturday.
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Delay |
1 | Nicolas Prost | Renault e.Dams | 1'37.291 | |
2 | Sebastien Buemi | Renault e.Dams | 1'37.912 | 0.621 |
3 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Virgin | 1'39.405 | 2.114 |
4 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra | 1'39.670 | 2.379 |
5 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra | 1'39.909 | 2.618 |
6 | Oliver Turvey | NEXTEV TCR | 1'40.148 | 2.857 |
7 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Dragon | 1'40.410 | 3.119 |
8 | Lucas di Grassi | ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport | 1'40.531 | 3.240 |
9 | Daniel Abt | ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport | 1'40.852 | 3.561 |
10 | Sam Bird | DS Virgin | 1'41.146 | 3.855 |
11 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | 1'41.387 | 4.096 |
12 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Team Aguri | 1'41.556 | 4.265 |
13 | Nelson Piquet | NEXTEV TCR | 1'41.938 | 4.647 |
14 | Loic Duval | Dragon | 1'42.016 | 4.725 |
15 | Robin Frijns | Andretti | 1'42.635 | 5.344 |
16 | Simona de Silvestro | Andretti | 1'43.657 | 6.366 |
17 | Nathanael Berthon | Team Aguri | 1'45.561 | 8.27 |
18 | Jacques Villeneuve | Venturi | 1'46.425 | 9.134 |
Salvador Duran | Trulli | No Time | ||
Vitantonio Liuzzi | Trulli | No Time |
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