Lucas di Grassi will go into Qualifying as the fastest driver as he looks to improve on his previous performances to take his first pole of the season. A strong end to the session saw a competitive time that was over a second quicker than Sebastien Buemi‘s time in Free Practice 1.
The e.Dams-Renault cars were first on the circuit but didn’t put in many competitive laps at the start instead choosing to run at race pace, much to the frustration of those behind. Jean-Eric Vergne was the fastest in the early part of the session with a 1:23.2, but this bench mark would fall quickly as it was beaten by Nick Heidfeld. Qualifying laps at 200kw of power were seen by the Trulli Formula E cars as well, but they weren’t as competitive as the others.
After not setting any quick laps, Buemi came into the pits from last, as Nelson Piquet Jr. found his car to be weaving in the breaking zones, describing the handling as “weird”. After many cars found the limit of the track, race control decided to allow drivers to run wide at turn 1, resulting in new lines from many of the teams.
At the mid point of the session, Heidfeld lead from Vergne and Jarno Trulli. However; the order was disrupted with 13 minutes left as di Grassi, went top, becoming a catalyst for the other drivers to follow him. Nico Prost took top spot as Buemi and Scott Speed improved, however; it was di Grassi who would soon retake the lead.
Many other drivers improved their times, but found it hard to catch those at the front, while Sephane Sarrazin picked up more of the timing tape. With a few minutes left, it was Jerome d’Ambrosio who leaped up to third, with Vergne going fifth on his second run. This meant that di Grassi ended the session on top from Prost, d’Ambrosio and Jaime Alguersuari.
After practice, when asked about his chances for pole, di Grassi said; “Of course we’ve been working very hard, the car feels good, but I’m not too focused on it.” He commented that he’d be looking further ahead towards the race.
