Image: Formula E
Mitch Evans from Jaguar TCS Racing took the lead at the start of this weekend’s Shanghai E-Prix, topping the timesheets in the first practice session, which suffered significant delays after several cars stopped on track.
The New Zealander set the fastest time with a lap of 1:13.215, just two hundredths of a second quicker than Norman Nato from Andretti. Jean-Eric Vergne finished third, with a gap of only five hundredths of a second.
Jake Hughes came in fourth with a time of 1:13.281s, followed by Oliver Rowland in fifth with 1:13.287s, and Antonio Felix da Costa in sixth with 1:13.352s. Championship contenders Pascal Wehrlein and Nick Cassidy finished ninth and eleventh, respectively, while Jake Dennis ended up fourteenth.
Sam Bird, who returned after missing three races due to a fractured hand, finished sixteenth with a time of 1:13.558s.
That concludes our first practice session in Shanghai! ???????? Mitch Evans and Jaguar Racing finished on top at the end of FP1. Will we see the same tomorrow? #ShanghaiEPrix
The session was only five minutes in when several cars, including both Tag Heuer Porsches and both ERTs, stopped, requiring platform trucks to take them back to the pit lane.
According to Andretti team boss Roger Griffiths, the issue is likely due to a software update installed by WAE between Berlin and Shanghai. It is now possible that the cars will be reverted to the previous software.
