Pascal Wehrlein fastest in Free Practice 3 at Tokyo E-Prix

Credit: Simon Galloway

A fantastic start to round nine of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E Championship for Pascal Wehrlein, saw him top Sunday's Free Practice session.

Wehrlein shone in Free Practice by setting a 1:12.011, which was the fastest time of that respective session. That lap from Wehrlein saw him finish clear of Nissan's Norman Nato who was second while Maserati's Jake Hughes ended the Free Practice 3 session in third.

The reigning Formula E champion was hoping to impress in round nine after a difficult round eight qualifying, where due to them using the Free Practice 2 results to determine the grid, he was to start only in 17th place.

Championship leader Oliver Rowland did not have as good of a session as he would have been hoping for. Instead, he ended up 22nd and last after a difficult morning at the Tokyo E-Prix circuit.

Antonio Felix Fa Costa is second in the standings and 60 points of the championship lead and needs a big result in round nine to close down the gap to the current championship leader Rowland who has ended in the top two in the last three E-Prix.

How Free Practice 3 at the Tokyo E-Prix unfolded

Sunday in Tokyo was the day of round nine for the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E Championship, with this being the second round of this weekend's first double-round weekend in Tokyo.

Tokyo had already seen eventful action across the weekend following round eight where wet weather significantly played its part. Stoffel Vandoorne secured his first win since 2022 on Saturday as he beat championship leader Oliver Rowland to the chequered flag.

Following another top finish from Rowland, he comes into round nine with a 60-point lead over Antonio Felix Da Costa, who sat second in the standings heading into the very start of the second half of the 2024/25 season.

It was a double-round weekend at Tokyo and the drivers should have been familiar with the venue, after round eight taking place a day prior on the Saturday.

40 minutes of Free Practice was underway in Tokyo with the green light on at the end of the pit lane. It was going to be an important session of running for the teams and drivers so they could have a range of knowledge about the Tokyo E-Prix circuit in dry conditions.

The drivers were beginning flying laps quickly with a lot of positions changing in the early stages of Free Practice on the time sheets. In the first six minutes of the session, Antonio Felix Da Costa of Porsche was the driver to beat after setting the provisionally best lap time.

His Porsche teammate Pascal Wehrlein was someone who had good speed and it was Wehrlein who went to the top of the time sheets. Norman Nato of Nissan moved up into second and prevented the 1-2 that Porsche were looking to achieve at that point.

There were more changes at the top of the times with championship leader Rowland being top for only a moment. Soon enough Lola Yamaha ABT were showcasing the talent within the team as they went 1-2.

Zane Maloney was fastest for Lola Yamaha ahead of Lucas Di Grassi and the Lola Yamaha ABT team were running first and second in Tokyo. A 1:12.750 was set by Maloney, which was almost three tenths clear of the time set by teammate Di Grassi.

With the track continuing to ramp up there was so many drivers who were changing positions and trying to look to improve their personal best lap times. All running was about building confidence ahead of round nine of the 204/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Da Costa was a driver who showed speed throughout Free Practice would be in high competition for fist place with the track ramping up constantly. Edoardo Mortara was holding himself in second place for the time being.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein made his way up to the top of the time sheets with a strong lap for Tag Heur Porsche. Nissan's Norman Nato had moved up into second place but was still 0.16 behind Wehrlein.

Wherlein was the fastest of the session and he was hoping to continue his great form in the day's later qualifying session, which is to set the grid for the E-Prix, which was to be round nine of the 2024/25 championship.

2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 9 - Tokyo E-Prix Free Practice 3 result

1. Pascal Wehrlein
2. Norman Nato
3. Jake Hughes
4. Jean-Eric Vergne
5. Dan Ticktum
6. Taylor Barnard
7. Antonio Felix Da Costa
8. Edoardo Mortara
9. Maximilian Gunther
10. Mitch Evans
11. Jake Dennis
12. Nyck De Vries
13. Robin Frijns
14. Zane Maloney
15. Sam Bird
16. Lucas Di Grassi
17. Stoffel Vandoorne
18. Nico Mueller
19. Nick Cassidy
20. Sebastian Buemi
21. David Beckmann
22. Oliver Rowland

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal