Envision Racing fastest in second Cape Town ePrix practice

Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy was the man to beat in the second free practice for the Cape Town ePrix. Making the most of the cool Saturday morning conditions, the New Zealander dug deep towards the end of the session to clock a lap time of 1:08.118 — 1.582 seconds faster than what Maserati MSG Racing's Edoardo Mortara managed on Friday. 

Proving that he's still very much on the pace around this 2.94km street circuit — do doubt the fastest on the 2023 Formula E calendar — Mortara finished second on the time sheets with a 1:08.425. Third — and just 0.021 behind the Maserati driver — was Nio 333 Racing's Dan Ticktum. Closing the top five was Jaguar TCS Racing's Mitch Evans and Sam Bird.

The Jaguar duo showed impressive pace during the first half of the session with Bird the first of the 22 drivers to break into the 1:08s. Tuned into the team radio it was evident that the Englishman was not 100% confident with his car set-up, however, complaining about a lively rear end and a front end that felt like it would understeer on corner exit. No doubt the team will work on this before qualifying, which should see Bird challenging for pole. Unfortunately whatever happens the Briton will be serving a five-place grid penalty for an incident in the Hyderabad ePrix that put both him and teammate Evans out of the race. 

Further down the grid local hero and ABT Cupra driver Kelvin van der Linde finished the session 19th with a time of 1:09:799. Hopefully he can move up the field during qualifying.

Qualifying begins at 11:40am and the race at 4pm.