Round 11- NYC E-Prix

Free Practice 1-

Stoffel Vandoorne hit the ground running in New York City with the fastest time in Free Practice 1 at the Brooklyn Street Circuit in Red Hook.

The Mercedes-EQ driver set a 1m 09.836s, some three tenths quicker than Sergio Sette Camara. Vandoorne is looking to recover following a recovery drive to eighth position last time out in Marrakesh whilst the rest of the top four in the Drivers’ running scored well. Oliver Rowland (Mahindra Racing) rounded third in the practice session.

The full top 10 are- P1: Vandoorne, P2: Sette Camara, P3: Rowland, P4: Bird, P5: Mortara, P6: Wehrlein, P7: Da Costa, P8: De Vries, P9: Gunther and P10: Dennis.

Free Practice 2-

Antonio Felix da Costa was the one to set the pace in Free Practice 2 with a 1m 08.684s lap, two tenths up the road from Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans and Jake Dennis.

The DS Techeetah driver made the most of improving track conditions after Friday’s dusty start to fire his car to the top. Evans was best of the Drivers’ World Championship top four with standings leader Edo Mortara down in ninth spot and fellow challenger Stoffel Vandoorne, one spot ahead in eighth.

The full top 10 are- P1: Costa, P2: Evans, P3: Dennis, P4: Wehrlein, P5: Frijns, P6: Vergne, P7: Lotterer, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Mortara and P10: Giovinazzi.

Qualifying-

Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing, sneaked Julius Baer Pole Position for the NYC E-Prix Round 11 by just 0.008s from Stoffel Vandoorne, with the race teed up to cause a stir in the title battle.

Cassidy danced the car around a drying track following the earlier rain during the Group B running. The New Zealender and Vandoorne couldn’t be spilt around the whole lap, with the advantage heading one way then the next over the final duel. But the Envision Racing driver did enough to seal his third pole position in Formula E.

Current standings leader, Edo Mortara had failed to make it through the Groups but his 11 point lead in the championship remains intact after Vandoorne failed to bag those three bonus points for pole. But it could have been worse for Mortara, were it not for the weather that arrived midway through Group B.

Fellow title challengers Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans were caught out by the conditions, having failed to set a banker lap of note before the drizzle became rain and a faster lap than those that had come before went out of the window.

The full top 10 are- P1: Cassidy, P2: Vandoorne, P3: Di Grassi, P4: Wehrelin, P5: Buemi, P6: Sims, P7: Frijns, P8: Bird, P9: Mortara and P10: Da Costa.

Round 11-

Nick Cassidy took a maiden Formula E race win in a rain-hit New York City fro Round 11, heading home Lucas di Grassi and teammate Robin Frijns.

Julius Baer Polesitter, Cassidy had produced the goods throughout to lead from the front through both Attack Mode activations, with di Grassi and Frijns applying the pressure behind as the race headed towards its conclusion – the pair having deposed Vandoorne from second on Lap 27 as the points race twisted and turned.

Standings leader Edo Mortara had also worked his way up to fifth with a late second Attack Mode – the ROKiT Venturi Racing driver having missed out on the Duels in qualifying, starting ninth.

Into the final 10 minutes plus one lap of the race and the heavens opened, with heavy rain buffeting the Brooklyn Street Circuit out of nowhere, leaving pools of standing water in the braking zone to Turn 6.

A full course yellow was called by Cassidy, di Grassi and Vandoorne – as well as Mortara couldn’t help but aquaplane straight on and into the wall. A number of other drivers fell foul in impossible conditions as the race was brought to an early conclusion with a red flag.

On count back, the results were taken as of the lap prior to the one in which the stoppage was called, as per article 41.9 of the regulations.

The full top 10 are- P1: Cassidy, P2: Di Grassi, P3: Frijns, P4: Vandoorne, P5: Buemi, P6: Wehrelin, P7: Bird, P8: De Vries, P9: Mortara and P10: Dennis.

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