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Porsche's da Costa leads opening Shanghai E-Prix practice
Antonio Felix da Costa was quickest in the opening practice session for the Shanghai E-Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit.
The TAG Heuer Porsche driver set a best lap time of 1m09.280, 0.132s quicker than Mahindra's Nyck de Vries who wound up second. The time was also 3.953s quicker than the fastest time from FP1 of the inaugural Shanghai E-Prix a year ago, highlighting the step up in pace brought about by powertrain advancements and the introduction of four-wheel-drive for 350kW laps this season.
Jake Hughes, who took his first Formula E podium in Shanghai a year ago, was third for Maserati MSG Racing, ahead of Pascal Wehrlein who ensured that both Porsches finished the session in the top four. Nick Cassidy completed the top five for Jaguar TCS Racing despite spinning between Turns 2 and 3 at one point.
Taylor Barnard was sixth for Nissan-powered NEOM McLaren, ahead of Norman Nato in the factory Nissan, while Dan Ticktum was eighth for Cupra Kiro, ahead of Andretti's Jake Dennis and Stoffel Vandoorne in the second Maserati, who rounded out the top 10.
Edoardo Mortara was 11th quickest in the second Mahindra, with Nico Mueller 12th for Andretti, Zane Maloney for Lola Yamaha Abt, and Sam Bird in the other McLaren.
Championship leader Oliver Rowland finished the session 15th for Nissan after complaining of braking issues, with Envision Racing's Robin Frijns 16th ahead of Kiro's David Beckmann, and DS Penske driver Jean-Eric Vergne who, along with Barnard and Ticktum, completed the highest number of laps in the session with 21.
Lucas di Grassi (Lola), Mitch Evans (Jaguar), Sebastien Buemi (Envision), and Maximilian Guenther (DS Penske) completed the field. Guenther was the only driver who didn't complete a lap on 350 kW.
Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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