FORMULA E
Copyright © Aemilia Cumberland - Jean Eric Vergne for DS Penske at the London E-Prix
 Credit: Alastair Staley In heavy rain conditions on E-Prix race day for round eight of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Nissan's Oliver Rowland was fastest in Free Practice 2. On Saturday morning, at the start of the first ever double-round weekend to take place at Tokyo, Rowland set the fastest time in a session that had extreme difficulty with the heavy rain making the circuit extra slippery and treacherous. Rowland was fastest in Free Practice 2, with a good margin ahead of Mahindra Racing's Edoardo Mortara who was second. Rowland's Nissan teammate Norman Nato finished third. Only Mortara and Nato were within a second of Rowland's time at the end of the session, It is Rowland, who is the championship leader, and will be hoping to continue his fine form in the 2024/25 season after picking up top two finishes in four of the last five E-Prix in Season 11. He comes into this round with a 48-point lead over Porsche's Antonio Felix Da Costa. How Free Practice 2 unfolded in TokyoSaturday rolled around to complete round eight of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, which was to mark the halfway point of Season 11, at the first of the weekend's two Tokyo E-Prix racedays. Round eight action started on Friday in Tokyo, with Free Practice 1. Nissan's Norman Nato was fastest in that session, which kicked off a perfect start to the weekend for Nissan at their home round, across the weekend. Saturday morning saw heavy rain fall on the circuit ahead of Free Practice 2, which was the first session of three ahead of round eight race day of the 2024/25 season. The track was extremely wet when the 40 minutes of Free Practice got underway. Exiting the pit lane Oliver Rowland practically drifted out of his garage with the standing water in front of him as he pulled onto the pit lane. Visibility was low but this was not a deterrence for the drivers, who were needing to get some lap times set as this was the first wet running of the weekend. With the forecast predicting a wet qualifying and E-Prix, the more laps the better they would find it in the long run. The drivers were constantly looking to find time and Maserati were sitting first and second after the first quarter of the session. Stoffel Vandoorne was top ahead of teammate Jake Hughes with a 1:36.240. There was a gap of 0.329 between the teammates with Sebastian Buemi third. Less than 27 minutes to go and there was a Full Course Yellow brought out about the FIA Race Director for some debris that was on the circuit. Thankfully though, the rapid response from the marshals saw the circuit back to green flag conditions. Finding time in the next few minutes was Antonio Felix Da Costa, who dislodged the Maserati duo from the top of the time sheets with a strong lap time. However, drivers were starting to practice qualifying runs in order to see what the running was like. Championship leader Oliver Rowland and his Nissan teammate Norman Nato set their best lap times of the session, with Rowland going to the top of the time sheets with a 1:32.525. His teammate Nato was unable to put a lap anywhere near as good together. There was time being won and lost in laps all around the circuit as the drivers were desperate to develop an understanding for the circuit in the treacherous conditions that the Tokyo weather was providing. Rowland's time was holding strong up at the top of the times and was staying top ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Nato. The pair were in the top three and were the only drivers within a second of the championship leader. A moment appeared for David Beckmann who ended up skidding down the escape road and this ended up leading to him not being to turn his car around and get back onto the circuit. The Race Director gave chance for him to get it going under a yellow flag. However, despite Beckmann trying, it was to no prevail and he was out of the session. Therefore, the session was red flagged while the marshals moved the Cupra Kiro to a safe position. The red flag was brought out within the final 10 minutes and it was unclear as to whether the session was to restart or not and if it was whether there was to be any added minutes or not. The session restarted with four minutes to go in the session and the majority of the field were back out on circuit trying to get some more track time despite the rain getting heavier in the Japanese capital. There was no added minutes and the session was soon over with yellow flags out for Zane Maloney, as the session reached its conclusion. Oliver Rowland was the driver who was fastest with a very good lap time. A very positive start to their home weekend for Nissan, who had topped both Free Practice sessions of round eight, with Rowland following on from Nato topping FP1 on Friday. It was Rowland, who ended the session fastest ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Nato, who were the top three. Completing the top five were Taylor Barnard and Nyck De Vries of NEOM McLaren and Mahindra respectively. Sebastian Buemi was sixth for Envision Racing ahead of the Cupra Kiro of Dan Ticktum in seventh place. DS Penske duo Jean-Eric Vergne and Maximilian Gunther wer eighth and ninth. Envision's Robin Frijns completed the top 10. There was a short break before the qualifying session which would set the grid for the Tokyo E-Prix - round eight of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 8 - Tokyo E-Prix Free Practice 2 result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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