Oliver Rowland took his Nissan to the top of the timing sheets in FP1 ahead of tomorrow’s first race for Formula E at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The Brit, who won last time out in Mexico City, set the benchmark of 1:15.849, with team-mate Norman Nato second a tenth-of-a-second behind.
Both drivers for the Japanese marque were the only ones to move into the 1:15.000s, with Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara, third two tenths off with a 1:16.069.
NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird was fourth, followed by Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum in fifth, with reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein sixth.
Stoffel Vandoorne put his Maserati in seventh, with title-leader Antonio Felix da Costa eighth.
Max Gunther’s DS Penske was ninth, with Mitch Evans’ Jaguar rounding-up the top 10.
Only five tenths-of-a-second covered Rowland to Evans, with 1.6s covering the whole field, which was back-ended by the McLaren of Taylor Barnard.
Rowland will be looking to keep the momentum going from his late victory from the Porsche pair of Wehrlein and da Costa in Mexico, and has already set the tone under the lights in Jeddah, which will play host to its first-ever FE events, having moved to the F1 venue from the previous location in Riyadh.
The Corniche has introduced a new FE-friendly layout, two miles less than its F1 version, and has incorporated temporary chicanes, the final one leading out onto the start-finish straight, with a small bump on the exit that seemed to put many of the cars into a wiggle on the exit.
