FE: Buemi fastest in Mexico City practice

Formula E championship leader Sebastien Buemi dominated free practice for the Mexico City ePrix.

The Renault e.dams driver topped both sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where the all-electric series is racing on an altered version of the Formula 1 circuit.

Buemi left it until the final five minutes of the faster second session to post a new benchmark, ending FP2 fastest with a 1m03.341s. That put him a quarter of a second clear of Daniel Abt, who set his lap before suffering a gearbox issue.

Abt's teammate Lucas di Grassi was a further 0.15s back as Abt Audi Sport looks to consolidate its position as the Renault squad's nearest challenger.

Nicolas Prost was almost half a second slower than teammate Buemi in FP2, and not much faster than Venturi's Mike Conway and the impressive Oliver Turvey for NEXTEV TCR.

The tricky 18-corner circuit brought mistakes from several drivers, with Buenos Aires ePrix victor Sam Bird's spin at the Turn 1 chicane and a similar mistake error by Bruno Senna at Turn 13 the most notable.

Home favorite Salvador Duran stopped on track thanks to a suspected software glitch and brought out a red flag.

Buemi had earlier been the only driver to dip below the 1m04s mark in FP1, which was considerably colder than the second session. His 1m03.995s knocked Turvey from a rare stint atop the times in the NEXTEV TCR 001, with the Briton ending up third quickest after a late improvement from Loic Duval.

The opening session passed largely without incident, save for a few lock-ups and a red flag for the stopped Simona de Silvestro.

MEXICO CITY QUALIFYING GROUPS
Group 1
Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi
Loic Duval, Dragon Racing
Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing

Group 2
Jerome D'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams
Lucas di Grassi, Abt Audi Sport
Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing

Group 3
Nico Prost, Renault e.dams
Antonio Felix da Costa, Team Aguri
Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Autosport
Daniel Abt, Abt Audi Sport
Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR

Group 4
Salvador Duran, Team Aguri
Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing
Mike Conway, Venturi
Robin Frijns, Andretti Autosport

PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:

PRACTICE TWO RESULTS:

Originally on Autosport.com