As we approach the 13th and 14th editions of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Rome this weekend, the free practice sessions were held yesterday and earlier today. There was also an introduction of the new 30-minute Rookie Free Practice where 11 drivers were announced to be part of the grid earlier this week. Let’s look into what went down in the last three sessions in Hankook Rome 2023.
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Rookie Free Practice
During the Rookie Free Practice Session, Ehrlacher initially led the laps but was later surpassed by Eastwood, who set the fastest time for McLaren. Just nine minutes into the session, Drugovich secured the top spot in the standings with his Maserati Trident, despite focusing on energy-efficient laps.
Later on, Ye encountered a slip and stall in T7, where he took a while to get his car into reverse before continuing his lap.
At the end of the session, Drugovich finally set the fastest lap, with Ghiotto performing exceptionally well in the final sector to secure third place. There were a few more minor slip-ups at T7 involving Drugovich and Ye, and the circuit was quite rough and bumpy, as expected since the drivers had experienced it through their simulators, which replicated the track as accurately as possible.
Free Practice 1
Moving on to Free Practice 1, Evans, who is known as an expert at the track, and is also expected to catch up to the top two drivers in the standings, has a good track record at Rome and previously secured Jaguar’s first win in 2019. He led the timesheets for the first 10 minutes along with his teammate.
Guenther, who is also familiar with the streets of Rome, briefly took the lead but eventually dropped to third place behind Bird and Wehrlein. Wehrlein benefited from Dennis’ steering column issues and temporarily topped the timesheet, ultimately falling behind.
Similar to Ye’s experience in the Rookie session, Da Costa had trouble stopping his car at the curve in T7 but managed to get back on track smoothly.
Dennis finally made it onto the track and was given two minutes to set a time. However, the session concluded with Wehrlein setting the fastest time of 1m 29.632s, followed by Bird, who was 0.272 seconds behind.
Free Practice 2
The McLarens took the lead at the beginning of the session, marking the start of the final 30-minute practice session before Qualifying and the main event later today. The session followed a similar pattern to the previous two sessions, with drivers encountering difficulties at T7. This time, both NIO drivers struggled and ended up performing synchronized donuts to regain control and rejoin the track.
Compared to yesterday, Dennis showcased significant improvement in his performance, having resolved the car issues he faced during the second half of FP1. Towards the end of the session, Frijns also spun out, this time at T16, but skillfully managed to bring the car to a halt before colliding with the wall behind him, resulting in a yellow flag being waved.
Lastly, Evans once again demonstrated the Jaguar’s prowess on the streets of Rome by setting the fastest time in the session, surpassing yesterday’s record.
Before we delve into the race weekend, there are a couple of important updates. Cassidy has been confirmed to move to Jaguar TCS Racing for the 2024 season, replacing Briton Sam Bird and forming an all Kiwi team, but also becoming a title rival for Mitch Evans.
Additionally, we should closely monitor the title race this season, as there is only one point separating Jack Dennis and Nick Cassidy.
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