BERLIN, Germany - Nick Heidfeld led Mahindra Racing to a one-two finish in practice for the opening Berlin Formula E race on Saturday morning, edging out teammate Felix Rosenqvist at the top of the timesheets.
Heidfeld arrived in Berlin for his home race off the back of two straight podium finishes in Monaco and Paris, and sent out another warning shot to his rivals through Saturday’s practice.
Heidfeld turned in a fastest lap time of 1:08.070 around the Berlin Tempelhof circuit in FP2 on a 200kW lap, nosing clear of Rosenqvist, who was left 0.022 seconds down in second place.
Formula E championship leader Sebastien Buemi turned in the third-fastest time of the morning, but opted to complete an early full-power lap in FP1. The Swiss driver could only finish ninth-fastest in FP2, half a second down on Heidfeld at the top.
Maro Engel finished FP2 third for Venturi ahead of Buemi’s title rival, Lucas di Grassi, who was just two-tenths of a second down in fourth place despite carrying a minor ankle injury.
Stephane Sarrazin made a good start to life with Techeetah, finishing fifth ahead of the DS Virgin Racing duo of Jose Maria Lopez and Sam Bird. Jean-Eric Vergne was eighth-quick in the second Techeetah, with Buemi and Oliver Turvey rounding out the top 10.