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Championship leader Sebastien Buemi returned to the top of the Formula E timing screens by setting a new unofficial lap record in the opening practice for the Monaco ePrix.
Buemi recorded a best time of 52.795s, over half a second faster than his pole position time in Season 1, as Renault e.dams ended the session with a 1-2. Nico Prost was over 0.4s behind his team-mate in second.
The session was ended with three minutes still to run after Felix Rosenqvist ran into the back of Oliver Turvey, scattering the track with debris. The incident happened when Buemi was running slowly on the run into Turn 3, causing the yellow flag to be waved.
Turvey slowed as a result, which caught Rosenqvist by surprise and he smashed into the back of the NextEV NIO, destroying the right front of his Mahindra in the process, although he’s confident that the car will be easily repaired before the race.
“There was a car in the inside so I slowed down for the yellow flag, and I was hit from the rear,” said Turvey. “It was a complete surprise!”
Rosenqvist said: “I was coming down the straight and just before I hit the brake I saw a yellow flag. I think he [Turvey] was a bit afraid to overtake the slower car because of the yellow, so he was going very, very slow so I had nowhere to go and I hit him, but it was hard to avoid.”
Stephane Sarrazin was an encouraging third for Venturi at its home race, while Rosenqvist still ended the session in fourth. Jose Maria Lopez – who has declared himself fit to race – was fifth fastest for DS Virgin, while Jean-Eric Vergne rounded out the top six for TECHEETAH.