Formula E in Portland: Norman Nato sets the pace in Free Practice 2, Günther in second

Norman Nato was the fastest in the second Free Practice of Formula E in Portland. The Frenchman underlined - after McLaren's success in FP1 - once again the pace of the Nissan on the permanent IndyCar track. Second place went to Maximilian Günther (Maserati), who again seems to be in good form. Sam Bird (Jaguar) was third. The usual favorites again did not play a major role.

In the first few minutes, not much worth mentioning happened. There was a small scary moment involving Andretti driver Jake Dennis, however, as he slowed in the last corner, trying to set himself up for a lap. Lucas di Grassi sped down the inside and almost collided with the Brit. The Mahindra racer, however, was able to brake just in time to avoid a crash. Jean-Eric Vergne went straight in turn 1, as he had done in the first Free Practice, and had to cut the chicane.

After eight minutes, Dan Ticktum caused the next local yellow flags: In a virtually identical manner to the first practice session, he got onto the grass in turn 11 and first had to turn around before he returning to the track. After the first third of the session, as in FP1, it was the two McLaren which set the pace: Rene Rast led after ten minutes ahead of teammate Jake Hughes. Behind him: Sebastien Buemi, Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz - all four Nissan cars in the top four.

Ticktum runs wide!

That last chicane is causing issues for some of the drivers out there?@Southwire #PortlandEPrix pic.twitter.com/R95WH5P86K

- ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) June 24, 2023

For a few minutes nothing remarkable happened again, before Max Günther turned up the wick. The German in the Maserati was 15 thousandths of a second faster than Rast and took over the top spot in the time table. However, he was still a good two tenths of a second off the best time of the first Free Practice (1:09.054 minutes). Robin Frijns, meanwhile, took a ride through the grass, but steered his ABT Cupra back onto the course. A short time later he moved up to 6th place.

With just over two minutes to go, almost all the drivers took to the track once more in an attempt to improve. Dennis just managed to avoid Sergio Sette Camara's Nio 333 on the run through turn 11 and also had to take to the grass. Vergne, too, made his next off-track excursion. Nick Cassidy also missed the difficult turn 11, with Norman Nato setting a new best time shortly before the end.

No one came close to his lap time of 1:09.101 minutes, although it was slower than Rast's best in FP1. Günther finished second ahead of Sam Bird, Rast and Vergne. Qualifying starts at 21:40 (CEST).

Results & Times

Overall standings (drivers & teams)