Bird sets the pace in second practice

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Bird sets the pace in second practice

Bird sets the pace in second practice

Last year’s Buenos Aires ePrix winner Sam Bird showed that once again he will be a factor in Argentina by setting the pace in the final practice session.

DS Virgin Racing’s star lapped in 1:08.792, over half a second faster than his pole lap from season two, to out-pace the rest by almost 0.2s.

Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist was next up, while Lucas di Grassi was third despite suffering a crash late-on in the session that damaged the right-rear of his Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport entry.

“It was a driver mistake,” he admitted. “I turned in and the car oversteered and the rear clipped the barrier and we damaged the rear and the front. It was a small crash but it’s much better to have the car in one piece all the time. For sure the car will be fixed it’s just a matter of losing important mileage.”

Reigning champ Sebastien Buemi was fourth fastest, but less than a second covered the top 12. Robin Frijns was fifth fastest for Andretti, while Nelson Piquet Jr rounded out the top six for NextEV NIO.

Local hero Jose Maria Lopez was back in 17th for DS Virgin Racing, ahead of Loic Duval, who had a wheel fall off his Faraday Future Dragon Racing car, causing a brief Red Flag period. This resulted in the session being extended by seven minutes.

Next up is the crucial qualifying session, which takes place as 12pm local time.