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Formula E

Rowland heads first Formula E practice of 2022, de Vries shunts

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

Oliver Rowland topped the opening Formula E practice session of the year at the Diriyah E-Prix as reigning champion Nyck de Vries prematurely ended his session after hitting the barriers.

Just over five minutes into the session, which is 30 minutes long instead of the previous 45 this season, Vries lost control of his Mercedes EQ over the bumps through the Turn 2/3 kinks and clipped the wall at Turn 4.

Nyck de Vries Mercedes Formula E

The damage he sustained from that contact forced him to pull his car off the track and he didn’t re-join the session.

“It was such a small and silly error and it was a light touch that’s all,” de Vries told The Race’s Sam Smith. “I’ve got some work to do now.”

It means de Vries will only have the 30-minute second practice session to prepare for the first qualifying session of the year.

On his first weekend since switching from Nissan to Mahindra, Yorkshireman Rowland was quickest in FP1, beating 2019-20 champion da Costa by 0.158s with a last-minute effort.

Rowland topped the session on a 1m10.559s, well over two seconds slower than last year’s pole position laps as the drivers struggled for grip on the dusty Diriyah circuit.

Da Costa was second fastest ahead of Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis and his DS Techeetah team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

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Jaguar’s Mitch Evans rounded out the top five ahead of Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara and the leading Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein.

Former title adversaries Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi were eighth- and ninth-quickest, with the latter completing his first official session for his new Venturi team following Audi’s exit.

The top 10 was rounded out by Envision’s Nick Cassidy, while Dan Ticktum was the quickest of the rookie trio for NIO 333 in 13th place.

Formula 1 convert Antonio Giovinazzi and Andretti’s Oliver Askew were the two slowest drivers to set a representative time in 20th and 21st, with de Vries at the bottom of the timesheets.

Practice 1 Results

Pos Name Team Car Gap Next Gap Leader Best Time
1 Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M7Electro 1m10.559s
2 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 +0.158s +0.158s 1m10.717s
3 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti BMW iFE.021 +0.022s +0.18s 1m10.739s
4 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 +0.005s +0.185s 1m10.744s
5 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 5 +0.32s +0.505s 1m11.064s
6 Edoardo Mortara RokIt Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 +0.016s +0.521s 1m11.08s
7 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric +0.059s +0.58s 1m11.139s
8 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 +0.06s +0.64s 1m11.199s
9 Lucas Di Grassi RokIt Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 +0.034s +0.674s 1m11.233s
10 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 +0.096s +0.77s 1m11.329s
11 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric +0.071s +0.841s 1m11.4s
12 Alexander Sims Mahindra Racing Mahindra M7Electro +0.061s +0.902s 1m11.461s
13 Daniel Ticktum Nio 333 Racing NIO 333 001 +0.017s +0.919s 1m11.478s
14 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 +0.132s +1.051s 1m11.61s
15 Robin Frijns Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 +0.03s +1.081s 1m11.64s
16 Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 5 +0.111s +1.192s 1m11.751s
17 Maximilian Günther Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 +0.17s +1.362s 1m11.921s
18 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 +0.034s +1.396s 1m11.955s
19 Oliver Turvey Nio 333 Racing NIO 333 001 +0.406s +1.802s 1m12.361s
20 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 +0.081s +1.883s 1m12.442s
21 Oliver Askew Avalanche Andretti BMW iFE.021 +0.226s +2.109s 1m12.668s
22 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 +27.485s +29.594s 1m40.153s
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