Formula E in Saudi Arabia: Norman Nato wins free practice 2

Norman Nato secured the session win in Formula E's 2nd free practice in Diriyah. With his final attempt, he beat the lap times of Max Günther and team mate Jake Dennis, although the track was still a few seconds slower than in 2023. Sebastien Buemi and Mitch Evans completed the Top 5, while Porsche disappointed in terms of pace.

In contrast to the first free practice session on Thursday, the second session of the race weekend did not take place in the dark of night, but in sunshine. The tarmac temperatures were correspondingly higher (35 degrees Celsius). In the first five minutes, the four "big cats" were particularly keen to attack: the two works Jaguars were in the lead ahead of the two Envision customer cars. The lap times were already very close to the fastest laps of the previous day.

Robin Frijns braked in turn 18 at the end of the long straight, but was able to turn before the barriers. The two Mahindra drivers as well as McLaren newcomer Sam Bird and champion Jake Dennis were among the leading group in the first ten minutes of the half-hour session. After eleven minutes, the Andretti driver beat the best time set by FP1 winner Oliver Rowland on Thursday.

Bit of a moment for @RFrijns as he runs wide into turns 18 and 19 ?#DiriyahEPrix pic.twitter.com/GF8YrpIPjp

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 26, 2024

Towards the halfway point, the Porsche works drivers also made their presence felt: Antonio Felix da Costa moved up to second position, followed by team mate Pascal Wehrlein. After 16 minutes, Jean-Eric Vergne set a new best time, but was immediately overtaken again by the two Mahindra drivers. Apparently, the so-called push laps with the full power of 350 kW were now on the training schedule. Sergio Sette Camara confirmed his pace from the previous day and was hot on the heels of the leader Edo Mortara.

Nato knocks Dennis off the throne

Just over nine minutes before the end, Dennis set the next exclamation mark with three "pink" sector times. The Briton was 7.5 tenths of a second faster than Mortara. Norman Nato followed his team-mate in second place, with Sebastien Buemi splitting the two Andretti drivers in second place with five minutes to go. After his technical incident on Thursday, the Swiss driver was able to fully attack again. Mitch Evans improved to 4th place, Dan Ticktum to 7th and then it was on to the final phase of FP2.

Ride onboard with @JakeDennis19 for an attack lap around the circuit at the #DiriyahEPrix ⚡ pic.twitter.com/JUfbrkwXpK

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 26, 2024

There were a few more quick attempts and postponements. After the time was up, Max Günther first knocked Dennis off the throne, then Nato went one better and took the session win (1:13.584 minutes). Dennis finished third ahead of Buemi and Evans. Also in the top 10: Stoffel Vandoorne, both Nissan drivers Rowland and Sacha Fenestraz as well as Lucas di Grassi and Nick Cassidy. Favourite Wehrlein only finished the session in 15th place.

FP2 ✅@NatoNorman pips @maxg_official to the post RIGHT at the end of the session!#DiriyahEPrix pic.twitter.com/MC9bE9KxZZ

- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 26, 2024

Qualifying for the Diriyah E-Prix on Friday will take place at 13:20 (CET). The race start for the first of two night races is Friday evening at 18:00 (CET).

Results & times

Overall standings (drivers & teams)