Just Electric

Rowland fastest in first Jakarta practice

Oliver Rowland topped Formula E’s first free practice session in Jakarta.

In the first full-power session at the Indonesia circuit, the Mahindra driver topped the order with a time of 1m08.433s as he took the chequered flag.

Nissan’s Sebastien Buemi was second quickest, almost pipping Rowland in the final moment of the session. He was just 0.09s off Rowland’s time.

Lap times improved rapidly throughout the session as dust cleared from the track. Stoffel Vandoorne was quickest after the first laps, but the fastest lap changed hands almost every time a driver crossed the start-finish straight.

After the first 10 minutes, it was Lucas Di Grassi at the top of the order, though Mitch Evans would find more pace before the first times at full power were set.

Jean-Eric Vergne was the first driver to run under full power, setting the benchmark at 1m08.703s. Di Grassi lowered the quickest time by 0.15s before Rowland’s fastest lap put him top of the order.

Buemi knocked Di Grassi down to third, where he ended the session 0.105s off the pace.

Jake Dennis took fourth ahead of Vergne and Mich Evans.

There were few incidents on track, with only one being noted by race officials. Antonio Felix Da Costa was on a flying lap and coming up to overtake Nyck de Vries. As Da Costa overtook the Mercedes the two came close to contact but managed to avoid one another.

Da Costa would end the session seventh quickest and just 0.003s faster than de Vries.

Pascal Wehrlein and Robin Frijns took ninth and 10th, while championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne could only manage P16.

Bethonie Waring

Privacy Policy

Click here to read our Privacy Policy.

%d bloggers like this: