Nissan made it another session led, With Norman Nato topping the timing sheets in FP1 at the Tokyo E-Prix.
The grid was raring to go for FP1 in the eighth round of season 11. With Rowland’s form over the opening rounds, he has marked himself as the driver to beat in the early part of the season.
However, in such a competitive series, it’s not without challenges. Buemi thwarted Rowland’s hopes of a clean sweep across the weekend.
Tokyo is an important weekend for Mahindra, as the team’s home race, and no doubt Rowland will be hoping to have a similar weekend to Monaco.
Green lights
Stoffel Vandoorne was the first driver to put in a lap with a 1:23.307, but it was far from what the expected fast lap times would be. Oliver Rowland, expectantly, crossed the line to take the top spot with a more representative time of 1:16.944. Behind Rowland was Nico Müller’s Andretti.
However, with the first session underway, times were quickly falling. Pascal Wherlein, looking for redemption from the Monaco struggles, crossed the line to go fastest. His time of 1:15.261 set him just 0.060 ahead of Rowland in second.
Despite a few minor changes to the track layout, the lap times are significantly faster than Season 10. Rowland on another push lap looked to take back that top spot from the Porsche, and as he cross the line he managed to put 0.475 seconds between him and Wehrlein behind with a 1:14.786.
Nyck DeVries slid into second, 0.339 seconds from Rowland’s time. But as the drivers headed round the track looking for more lap time, a red flag was waved. Taylor Barnard’s NEOM McLaren hitting the wall at turn 17 after a snap of oversteer hit him into the corner.
It was a pretty big crash for the young Brit, giving his McLaren pretty extensive damage along its right side. Luckily, the Rookie was okay, being punished only by losing vital lap time.
With the chance of rain looming over the weekend’s sessions. The dry track time in FP1 has become even more important for drivers at the Tokyo E-Prix.
Back racing
With the session extended by eight minutes, the drivers had 23 minutes left to get up to speed with the nature of the narrow track.
The top three as the green flag waved were Rowland, De Vries and Dennis. The same trio who made their way onto the podium in Race 1 of Monaco.
Oliver Rowland, leading the pack, managed to stay in front of Mitch Evans and António Félix da Costa. Who slipped into second and third, utilising their attack modes. Rowland was still in two-wheel drive.
Norman Nato got ahead of his teammate heading to the top of the timesheets, but it was short-lived as Nico Müller crossed the line to put an impressive 0.594 seconds between him and Nato. His time of 1:13.902 was seven seconds faster than last year’s times.
Müller’s teammate took the top spot as Dennis managed a 1:13.245, closely followed by da Costa, who was just 0.066 behind the Andretti with a 1:13.311.
Pascal Wehrlein followed in his teammate’s footsteps, moving into first with a 1:13.190. The margins continually fine between drivers, just 0.055 ahead of Dennis in second.
The Lola ABT Yamaha’s managed to get themselves closer to the top of time sheets, with Di Grassi in fourth, only 0.223 off Wehrlein and Maloney in sixth.
Final five minutes
In the final minutes of the session, drivers took the opportunity to try some qualifying runs in the dry conditions.
This stage of practice was marked by Dan Ticktum going fastest with a 1:12.987. The Brit had a stellar weekend in Monaco, topping the early sessions on Saturday, he came away with points but rued a potential podium chance.
The two Nissan’s made it a one-two, just 0.109 seconds separating them. Nato took the lead from Rowland with a 1:12.735.
But Pascal Wehrlein took the top spot with a 1:12.578 putting a tenth between him and the Nissan’s behind.
Maximilian Günther was one of the final drivers to cross the line, moving into first, but it was beaten by Norman Nato with a 1:12.152. Behind him was Günther’s DS Penske and the championship leader, Rowland.
Full Results:
- N. Nato
- M. Günther
- O. Rowland
- P. Wehrlein
- S. Vandoorne
- D. Ticktum
- L. Di Grassi
- A. da Costa
- J. Hughes
- J. Dennis
- E. Mortara
- N. Müller
- J. Vergne
- Z. Maloney
- D. Beckmann
- R. Frijns
- M. Evans
- S. Bird
- S. Buemi
- N. Cassidy
- N. DeVries
- T. Barnard
