It was mixed fortunes for Porsche in the first free practice session ahead of Saturday’s Berlin E-Prix, as Antonio Felix Da Costa topped the session but Pascal Wehrlein suffered a car failure that prevented him from completing any laps at all.
The session was stopped early on by a red flag when Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche suffered from a sudden shutdown as it crossed the start/finish line, and as a result FP1 was extended by 20 minutes due to the length of the red flag.
Da Costa eventually topped the session with a time of 1:02.289.
Sergio-Sette Camara set the second fastest time for ERT, just 0.128 behind Da Costa’s best lap, with DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne in third 0.188 off the pacesetter.
The two Maserati MSG cars ended the session fourth and fifth, with Maximillian Guenther leading home teammate Jehan Daruvula.
Nick Cassidy set the 6th fastest time for Jaguar, ahead of the second DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne. Monaco E-Prix winner Mitch Evans was 8th, ahead of the second ERT of Dan Ticktum.
The top 10 was rounded out by Joel Eriksson, making his return to Formula E for the first time since 2021, subbing in for the absent Envision Racing drivers Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi, who are racing in the World Endurance Championship at Spa this weekend.
Oliver Rowland was 11th for Nissan, ahead of reigning champion Jake Dennis in the Andretti and Paul Aron – another substitute driver for Envision making his Formula E debut in Berlin.
Lucas Di Grassi ended the session 14th for Abt, ahead of the second Andretti of Norman Nato. The McLaren pairing of Jake Hughes and Taylor Barnard were 16th and 17th, with Barnard continuing to fill in for Sam Bird, who is still recovering from the hand injury sustained in free practice for the Monaco E-Prix.
Kelvin Van Der Linde was 18th for Abt, on his return filling in for Nico Muller. Behind him was another debutant, Jordan King, the British driver racing in place of the absent Nyck De Vries at Mahindra. His teammate Edoardo Mortara was just behind in 20th.
Sascha Fenestraz was last of those to set a laptime in 21st, 1.121 of a second off of Da Costa’s time.
