FORMULA E
Copyright © Aemilia Cumberland - Jean Eric Vergne for DS Penske at the London E-Prix
 Credit: Oscar Lumley Indian racer and Formula 2 race winner Kush Maini was fastest of the Jeddah E-Prix rookie free practice session on Thursday. Maini drove the Mahindra car in a 40-minute practice session that is to give potential future stars the opportunity to experience the Formula E machinery to potentially line them for future drives. Most recent successes through this system included. The 2025 Formula 2 driver with DAMS topped the times ahead of fellow 2025 Formula 2 driver Gabriele Mini, who ended up second for the Nissan team. Cupra Kiro driver Mikkel Jensen rounded off the top three. This rookie free practice session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit was the very first piece of track action to take place at Jeddah in the history of Formula E as it is a brand new venue. The session would also signify the start of the first double-round weekend of the 2024/25 season. How the rookie free practice session unfolded in Jeddah To start the first double-round weekend of the Formula E 2024/25 campaign, and the first ever Formula E action in Jeddah, would be the rookie free practice session where 11 drivers would look to impress over a 40-minute session. Formula E visits Jeddah for the first time, in difference to visiting Diriyah when the world championship heads to the Middle Eastern nation of Saudi Arabia. Each team would be fielding a driver for the session with the drivers coming from many different racing bacgrounds. The rookie free practice lineup would be as follows:
40 minutes the 11 drivers would get to have an opportunity in an FIA world championship, in the ABB FIA Formula E rookie free practice session. The green flags would fly as well as the green light would be on at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of the session. Jamie Chadwick at Jaguar would be the first driver to lay down a lap time. The British driver who had won the W Series three times, and now learning her trade in Indy NXT, would be the first to set a flying lap time with a 1:36.684 Chadwick would soon be beaten as the trak would be improving in terms of fluidity. After seven out of the 11 drivers had laid down a lap time it would be Daniil Kvyat to go to the top of the time sheets. Kvyat would be dislodged by Chadwick who would go to the top once again but would be beaten by Zak O'Sullivan and Jak Crawford as drivers were finding their feet during the rookie practice session. Alex Dunne would need one first time flying lap to go to the top of the time sheets for NEOM McLaren but due to the track ramping up Kvyat and O'Sullivan would shortly leap back above the Irishman. Dunne would be set to compete in FIA Formula 2 for Rodin in 2025 for what would be his rookie season. Also set to compete in the 2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship would be Kush Maini and Jak Crawford, who are both to be racing for DAMS Lucas Oil in the upcoming season. Maini with his first time flying lap for Mahindra Racing would be top of the times with a stunning effort from the Indian driver as the first 10 minutes of the 40 reached a conclusion meaning half an hour remained. A 1:21.400 for Maini would be improved by nine tenths of a second with a 1:20.500. A good start so far for Maini, who took a Formula 2 pole position in the 2024 Saudi Arabian round. Chadwick would once return to the top of the times as all 11 cars would be out on track and would have set one representative lap time following Theo Pourchaire overcoming some minor technical issues and the Maserati driver would be on circuit looking to set some flying lap times. It would be Chadwick at the halfway point, who would be fastest in the session ahead of Maserati's Pourchaire who had leapt himself up to second place behind the Jaguar driver. Pourchaire would soon find even more time as he would go fastest overall with a great effort. Soon would be a period of time where a lot of the drivers would be into the pit lane trying out the new pit boost to help the teams' gather data for the drivers who are competing across the weekend, in the main world championship. 10 minutes to go and Pourchaire would remain fastest for Maserati, in the Jeddah rookie free practice session, with Cupra Kiro man Mikkel Jensen in second place with Chadwick completing the provisional top three. Jensen was finding pace and soon would turn his provisional second place into top spot with a 1:18.225 and would remain top of the times as the session entered the final five minutes. His time would be seven tenths clear of Pourchaire. The Danish driver would be dislodged though by Maini by almost four tenths as second as an improvement from Zak O'Sullivan saw him moving up into the top four. Soon enough the chequered flag was flown from the race control tower and that signalled the end of the rookie free practice session in Jeddah. Maini's time that saw him go fastest in the final two minutes was not to be beaten and he ended the time top of the time sheets. Maini was fastest ahead of fellow 2025 Formula 2 driver Gabriele Mini, who landed his Nissan in second place. Mikkel Jensen completed the top three for the Cupra Kiro team. Despite getting on circuit later than the others in comparison, Theo Pourchaire would finish fourth for Maserati with former Formula 1 podium finisher Daniil Kvyat rounded off the top five for DS Penske. Zak O'Sullivan would finish sixth for Envision Racing ahead of Porsche's Thomas Preining in seventh and Andretti's Jak Crawford in eighth. Jamie Chadwick, Tatiana Calderon and Alex Dunne rounded off the 11 participants. Following the conclusion of the rookie test in Jeddah, attention would turn to the world championship race weekend action. Action of the weekend would resume with free practice 1 of round 3 later on Thursday. 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 3 - rookie free practice result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal
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