Diriyah E-Prix: Sam Bird tops first practice
26th January 2023Jaguar TCS Racing’s Sam Bird topped the timing boards in Free Practice 1 as Formula E embarks on its first double-header, this season, in Saudi Arabia.
In usual fashion, most of the drivers and teams ventured out onto the Diriyah Street Circuit but McLaren pairing, of Jake Hughes and Rene Rast, were the only drivers to stay inside their respective garage. However, the two drivers soon peeled onto the circuit.
This allowed the remaining drivers to experiment with the conditions after some rain had fallen on the circuit prior to Free Practice 1.
After the first set of timed laps, Mortara topped the timing sheets with a 1:14.851, 0.377 seconds faster than second-placed Gunther. However, it didn’t take long before this time was beaten. With 21 minutes left on the clock, Hughes topped the leaderboard with a 1:11.670.
Rast was soon forced to quickly return to his repective garage, without a set lap time to his name. The German driver had suffered a broken front wing after he made contact with the reigning world champion, and DS Penske driver, Stoffel Vandoorne.
The German McLaren driver soon returned to the track and managed to put in a lap time but the McLaren’s first timed run could only secure P14. He was soon demoted to P15 after ABT Cupra’s.
ABT Cupra’s deputising driver, Kevin Van Der Linde peeled into the pit lane with trouble but the South African driver was able to quickly jump back out onto the circuit.
However, Van Der Linde had time to find as he was 14-seconds behind NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum who jumped to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:10.953, 0.026 seconds faster than DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne (P2).
In the final moments, Vergne sat at the top of the timing sheets with a 1:10.486 ahead of Hughes and Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans respectively.
At the other end of the table, Van Der Linde remained at the bottom of the timing sheets in P22, 1.983 seconds off the pace, behind Tag Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix Da Costa and Avalanche Andretti’s Andre Lotterer (P21).
However, in the final laps, Bird jumped to the top of leaderboard with a 1:10.402 lap ahead of both Vergne (+0.084s) and Evans (+0.340s) respectively.
Top three:
- Sam Bird, Jaguar TCS Racing
- Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske
- Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing
That’s it for the article: Diriyah E-Prix: Sam Bird tops first practice!
Who is your early contender for pole position ahead of the first race in Saudi Arabia, this weekend? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula E here:
- Formula E Diriyah E-Prix Preview
- FE Mexico E-prix: Dennis secures first win of 2023
- NIO 333 take the covers off their Gen3 racer
- ABT Sportsline reveal Gen3 car as they return to Formula E
- Avalanche Andretti reveal Gen3 challenger
- Portland completes Formula E Season 9 Calendar
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
