Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6
Mitch Evans goes into qualifying fastest in his Jaguar with a 1:09.092.
It was a strong session overall for the British manufacturer as Evans’ teammate Sam Bird impressed again, taking his Jaguar to fifth in the session, four-tenths off of his Kiwi teammate.
Halfway through the session, Lucas DiGrassi had a big moment, losing the rear and ending up in the wall. Thankfully the damage wasn’t too severe and the Brazillian was able to get his car back to the pits for repairs.
Dan Ticktum’s positive form continued in his NIO 333 as he spent large parts of the session in the top spot, only just being beaten out by Evans at the very end. The Briton ended the session in second, just over a tenth slower than Evans.
Another strong display for the McLaren’s saw Rene Rast finish the session sixth followed by his rookie teammate Jake Hughes in eighth.
Sebastian Buemi ended the session seventh, making it three of the Jaguar powertrains in the top ten. His teammate Nick Cassidy ended the session in the twelfth.
DS Penske has had a pretty anonymous weekend so far in Diriyah but showed pace in the session with Jean-Eric Vergne ending the practice in third while reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne finish ninth. The French outfit has yet to see one of their drivers make it out of group qualifying this season, despite showing strong signs of one-lap pace in practice.
Once again the Porsche Powertrains struggled with their one-lap pace, despite being strong in the race. Andre Lotterer was the only Porsche-powered driver in the top ten with his teammate Jake Dennis in 17th. After a difficult day yesterday, Antonio Felix Da Costa was faster than his teammate finishing 12th while yesterday’s race winner Pascal Wehrlein was in 18th.
ABT Cupra had another difficult session with their drivers in 20th and 21st. After having to miss qualifying yesterday due to damage Nico Muller was beaten by his debutant teammate Kelvin Van der Linde.
Qualifying for Round Three of the championship gets underway at 15:40 local time.
Keyword: 2023 Diriyah E-Prix: Evans tops timesheets in FP3