Rowland and Nissan e-dams shine in FP1

Nissan e-dams haven’t had all too much to shout about so far in Season Five, but theirs and Oliver Rowland’s pace in Sanya’s opening practice session spells out the potential for a big result, while BMW i Andretti Autosport impress and DS Techeetah suffer braking mishaps.

The session began with the lead Envision Virgin Racing contender Sam Bird activating his Attack Mode usage from the very off, propelling him to fifth while his teammate Robin Frijns led the way after the maiden runs. Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland planted their Nissan e-dams mast high up the timing screens, slotting in 3rd and 4th.

The narrow Sanya street circuit, with straight-line sections separated only by slim trees and barriers, was awash with activity after the first bout of times. Rowland wrestled the lead from Frijns with a 1:10:396, while Andre Lotterer brought DS Techeetah into play with a lap good enough for 4th.

The Venturi team, buoyed to no end by Edoardo Mortara’s – and their – maiden victory, found themselves rooted to the bottom of the timing screens along with Nelson Piquet Jr in the Panasonic Jaguar Racing machine, but would improve gradually over the session. Jean-Eric Vergne was the first off in the session, struggling to keep his DS Techeetah within track limits.

Rowland and Buemi began to edge very close towards each other at the half-hour mark, the Swiss nearly rear-ending his teammate into Turn 8. The Nissan e-dams team were looking strong in this phase of the session – Rowland leading an impressive 1-2.

Jean-Eric Vergne suffered another off at the tight Turn 8, venturing into the escape road before rejoining the circuit. Venturi found themselves shuffled back to the bottom, while Lucas Di Grassi came within a hair’s breadth of the Turn 6 inside wall. That dice with near disaster was enough to squeeze enough pace out of his ABT Audi Sport Schaeffler for top spot.

Daniel Abt led the way coming into the final 20 minutes, with a 1:09:225, while Vergne suffered another lock-up. This suggested there may be a braking issue with his car, and with it happening yet again only moments after those fears were heightened. A near-spin at the final corner only added salt to his wounds, and left the current champion 12th.

Frijns did what Di Grassi managed to avoid, and made contact with the inside wall at Turn 6, but was able to continue unscathed. In fact, Andre Lotterer was the one suffering more with a lock-up into Turn 11 – hinting at a wider issue for the DS Techeetah team regarding their brake-by-wire system.

The last five minutes saw Antonio Felix da Costa, the maiden Gen2 victor, place his BMW i Andretti Autosport car on top spot with a 1:07:625, only to have it narrowly snatched away by Rowland once again. The Sheffield-born driver would go on to stay there, and mark out Nissan e-dams’ potential to make ground on the leaders in the E-Prix.