Formula E in Berlin: Max Günther & Maserati set best time in 2nd free practice at Tempelhof

Max Günther has decided the 2nd Free Practice of Formula E in his favor. The German in the Maserati prevailed confidently against Nick Cassidy (Envision) and registered claims for his home race. Jean-Eric Vergne, Antonio Felix da Costa and Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 5. After an accident by Oliver Rowland the session had been interrupted in the meantime.

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In sunny but cool conditions, the 2nd free practice session started on time at 8:10 am. Ticktum turned as the first driver a faster lap, then there was already an interruption: Oliver Rowland suffered a brake failure on the way into turn 1 and slid head-on slightly into the TecPro barrier. Again problems at Mahindra! The incident was reminiscent of Kelvin van der Linde's incident in Hyderabad, when his customer Mahindra also went straight and slammed into the car completely without need - apparently software-related.

Rowland was unable to move his car and had to be towed away accordingly. Race control had red flags waved and all drivers returned to the pits. After a good seven minutes, the race continued. The session was extended accordingly. Then the records were already falling: Sebastien Buemi undercut the previous day's best by Stoffel Vandoorne early on with a lap time of 1:05:686.

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Rowland can't stop ?

Session red flagged as the Mahindra is taken back to the pits.

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- ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) April 22, 2023

At the halfway point of the 30-minute session, Jean-Eric Vergne set the new fastest time, followed by Max Günther. The German had already been fast on Friday. Sam Bird sorted himself out behind Buemi in fourth. Vandoorne moved up to third again and confirmed the good impression of the Stellantis brands: Maserati and DS at this point in positions 1 to 3. Things went less well for ABT: the German team initially only finished 20th and 21st.

Günther unstoppable

The other German drivers did largely well: Andre Lotterer romped around in the top 5 for several minutes, and Rene Rast in the McLaren was also a permanent guest in the top 10. Only Porsche, as on Friday, could hardly impress with pace at first. The Swabians were probably concentrating on race set-up for the time being. Their supposed main rival - Jaguar - ranked 6th and 7th with Mitch Evans and Sam Bird.

With around three minutes to go, Robin Frijns spun - as he had on Friday. This time he slid in his ABT Cupra in turn 1 and rolled backwards against the TecPro barrier. Apart from that, there were at least first positive signs for the Mahindra cars: Lucas di Grassi climbed to sixth place, and Rowland was also driving again after all. Antonio Felix da Costa, meanwhile, improved to third place and showed a sign of life for Porsche.

Quasi with the time running out Max Günther improved his best time but again and secured with 2.55 tenths of a second advantage sovereign victory in the 2nd Free Practice. Vergne made a mistake on braking into turn 6, Evans stopped briefly after turn 3. Nick Cassidy jumped to second place, then it was over. Much seems to boil down to a three-way battle between the manufacturers Maserati/DS, Jaguar and Porsche in Berlin.

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The qualifying on Berlin Saturday begins at 10:40 a.m. ran.de shows the qualifying in the livestream, we accompany the time trial for the best starting positions as usual in the Liveticker.

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Results & times

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Overall ranking (drivers & teams)