Formula E in London: Robin Frijns sets the fastest time in 2nd free practice

The 2nd free practice session of Formula E in London went to Robin Frijns. The Envision driver was the fastest man ahead of the important qualifying session on Saturday. Behind him were Oliver Rowland (Nissan) and Sebastien Buemi in the second Envision customer Jaguar. However, the title contenders Nick Cassidy and Pascal Wehrlein were also at the front.

Free practice 2 began with a yellow flag in turn 6 - apparently due to a slightly damp spot. In contrast to the previous day, the sky over London was overcast this time, but it wasn't raining. Relatively few drivers set lap times at all in the first five minutes. The fastest came from the two Envision drivers Sebastien Buemi and Nick Cassidy, who confirmed their good pace from Friday. After just under eight minutes, however, the two Jaguar works drivers - Mitch Evans ahead of Nick Cassidy - took the lead. All Jaguar cars again in good early form.

In the first third of the session, Pascal Wehrlein, Max Günther and Oliver Rowland were also among the leading group. It was clear from the aggressive driving style of some of the drivers that they were already preparing for the important qualifying session. After all, it is very difficult to overtake on the narrow London circuit - a good grid position is more important than on any other Formula E track this season. Antonio Felix da Costa missed the chicane from turn 10 and then complained on the radio about Jehan Daruvala, who he said was in the way.

The second half of the session began with some improvements in position: Frijns took 1st place ahead of Evans, Wehrlein, Cassidy and Buemi. There was no sign of Jean-Eric Vergne - winner of the first free practice session - until then. Then Wehrlein set the first 1:10 lap time. Cassidy was even faster a little later. While the drivers approached the limits, they were not allowed to take too many risks: Accident damage might not have been repaired in time before the important qualifying session.

Frijns builds on recent form

Rowland locked his rear tyres under braking in turn 19 and spun. Several drivers behind him had to abort their fast laps to avoid the Nissan on the track. Frijns - who recently finished on the podium twice in a row in Portland - took the lead again. However, the lap record was still a good half a second away at this point. We explained the reasons for this in our "Paddock Whispers". A few minutes before the end, world champion Jake Dennis, who had been extremely dominant in London in recent years, finally made his presence felt in the leading group.

Spinning around ?‍?

Rowland loses the rear of his car and ends up facing oncoming traffic before getting underway once again.@Hankook_Sport #LondonEPrix pic.twitter.com/heTZLINTBW

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) July 20, 2024

When the time ran out, several drivers were still out on fast laps. However, no one was able to match Frijns' best time. Rowland finished second ahead of Buemi, Cassidy, who had overshot turn 1, and Wehrlein. The positions of the other title contenders: Evans was seventh, Vergne tenth and Felix da Costa only 19th. The Jaguar cars look the strongest ahead of qualifying, but Nissan and Porsche can also keep up. Qualifying for Saturday's race will take place in the early afternoon at 13:20 (CEST).

Results & times

Overall standings (drivers & teams)