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Sam Bird started his defence of the Qualcomm New York City ePrix title by setting a new unofficial lap record in the single practice session for Race 2 of the double header.
Bird recorded a time over half a second faster than the best time set yesterday, lower the best mark to 1:02.209s. This moved him to the top of the times head of TECHEETAH’s Jean-Eric Vergne, the driver who ran him close for the win in yesterday’s race.
Maro Engel finally had a chance to show his pace in the Venturi and went third fastest. In total, the top 11 drivers all went faster than the best time Bird recorded on Saturday.
Oliver Turvey and Nelson Piquet Jr were fourth and fifth fastest for NextEV NIO, while Tom Dillmann recovered from damaging his car against the wall early on by going sixth fastest in the second Venturi.
The 45-minute session ended a few minutes prematurely after Robin Frijns hit the wall hard in his Andretti, damaging the rear wing and right rear suspension in the process. The Dutchman was OK, but the team faces a race against time to get the car ready in time.
Yesterday’s pole man Alex Lynn was seventh, Lucas di Grassi eighth, while Pierre Gasly was back in 18th for Renault e.dams.
Qualifying for Race 2 of the NYC ePrix takes place at the earlier time of 9am (local time).
Free Practice times:
- Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing 1:02.209
- Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH 1:02.388
- Maro Engel, Venturi 1:02.425
- Oliver Turvey, NextEV NIO 1:2.427
- Nelson Piquet Jr, NextEV NIO 1:02.524
- Tom Dillmann, Venturi 1:02.545
- Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing 1:02.558
- Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:02.655
- Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:02.663
- Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra 1:02.725
- Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:02.759
- Stephane Sarrazin, TECHEETAH 1:02.878
- Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:03.091
- Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:03.117
- Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti 1:03.175
- Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing 1:03.231
- Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:03.277
- Pierre Gasly, Renault e.dams 1:03.380
- Robin Frijns, Andretti 1:03.433
- Nico Prost, Renault e.dams 1:03.503