Championship contender Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) finished in second, with the Jaguar TCS Racing of Sam Bird ending up in third. The man who lost his championship lead last time out in Monaco, Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche), was in fourth and reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS PENSKE) rounded out the top five.
It might have been an early start for Free Practice 2 in Jakarta, but that didn’t stop the temperatures reaching 30°C. Drivers tackled the dusty circuit, with track evolution being very quick as the session progressed.
RESULTS: The full FP2 classification
Maserati MSG Racing made the headlines yesterday when their two drivers topped the FP1 session, with Maximilian Guenther going fastest. However, on Saturday morning, his teammate Edoardo Mortara made one of the first mistakes of the weekend when he whacked his GEN3 car into a wall whilst on a lap. The incident, which saw Swiss Mortara knock his two right-hand wheels into the barrier, happened just before the ATTACK MODE point at Turn 16. As a result of the contact, he scuffed his Hankook tyres and damaged the wheel rim and was forced to abandon his only lap and sit out the rest of the session.
Two new drivers to Formula E line-up on the grid here in Indonesia. Roberto Merhi is in at Mahindra Racing after the departure of Oliver Rowland for the season’s final seven races. The Spaniard recently took part in the Berlin in-season Rookie Test, but used the 30 minute session to get to grips with the circuit and car. A big lock-up at Turn 1.
The other new face is David Beckman who is representing Avalanche Andretti whilst their other driver, Andre Lotterer is at Le Mans. Beckman also got vital experience in the rookie test, and is now the youngest driver on the current grid. He had a challenging benchmark in teammate Jake Dennis, but finished the session just seven tenths behind.
Championship leader Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) also brought out the yellow flags as he suffered a lack of grip towards the end of the session and had a little spin. Turn 1 has plenty of run-off, so the Kiwi was fine, but a rare problem for the driver who has won the last two races.
ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller and NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum made an appearance in the top 10, finishing FP2 ninth and 10th, respectively.
