Jean-Éric Vergne Edges Robin Frijns in Close Opening Practice for London E-Prix

Jean-Éric Vergne ended fastest in the first practice session at Exhibition Centre London (ExCeL) on Friday afternoon as the drivers acclimatised themselves to the unique London E-Prix circuit.

The top five drivers were all within one-tenth of a second, while less than a second split the top twenty-three in a tightly contested session in London Docklands around a track that is partly indoors and partly outside.

DS Techeetah’s Vergne used his 250kw lap to good effect to hit the top with a time of 1:21.650, with the two-time champion ending 0.004 seconds clear of Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns, while current championship leader Sam Bird was 0.038 seconds back for Jaguar Racing.

Reigning champion António Félix da Costa made it two Techeetah’s inside the top four, 0.065 seconds behind his team-mate, while Mitch Evans also got to within one-tenth of Vergne’s best time in the second Jaguar in fifth.

Mahindra Racing’s Alex Lynn ended sixth fastest, 0.144 seconds off the pace but 0.021 seconds clear of Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team’s Stoffel Vandoorne, while Pascal Wehrlein was the best placed of the Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team drivers in eighth.

The top ten was completed by Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries and Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Sérgio Sette Câmara, while ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Edoardo Mortara ended eleventh ahead of BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Jake Dennis.

The other British drivers ended nineteenth for Oliver Rowland of Nissan e.dams, twenty-first for Alexander Sims of Mahindra, twenty-second for Tom Blomqvist and twenty-fourth for Oliver Turvey (both NIO 333 FE Team).  Turvey was the only driver not to set a time within one second of Vergne’s best lap.

Saturday morning will see the twenty-four drivers return to the track for second practice before Qualifying and race one later in the day.

London E-Prix Free Practice 1 Result