Pascal Wehrlein ended Free Practice 2 on top in São Paulo, setting the benchmark with a 1:09.853 just as the chequered flag fell.
The Season 10 champion delivered the lap in the final moments of an extended one-hour session, granted after yesterday’s FP1 was cancelled, giving teams 20 minutes of additional running to recover lost track time.
Mahindra continued their impressive early-season form with Nyck de Vries securing second place, only 0.057s off Wehrlein’s time with a 1:09.910. Dan Ticktum was an outstanding third for CUPRA Kiro, despite the team running the original GEN3 powertrain rather than the GEN3 Evo used by most rivals. Even with the technical disadvantage, Ticktum kept CUPRA firmly in the mix.
Edoardo Mortara reinforced Mahindra’s strong session with fourth place, two tenths away from Wehrlein’s early standard. Reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland slotted into fifth for Nissan, closely followed by teammate Norman Nato in sixth as the team showed solid one-lap speed.
Jean-Éric Vergne opened his first official session with Citroën in promising fashion, finishing seventh, ahead of Nico Müller in eighth in the second Porsche. Home hero Felipe Drugovich placed ninth for Andretti. Both he and teammate Jake Dennis struggled to extract consistent pace during their 350kW runs, with Dennis ending the session in 14th.
Maximilian Günther completed the top ten for DS Penske.
Behind them, Jaguar’s Mitch Evans ranked 11th, just ahead of new Citroën driver Nick Cassidy. Sébastien Buemi took 13th for Envision, leading Dennis and leaving Andretti with work to do before qualifying.
Antonio Félix da Costa ended the session 15th in the second Jaguar, with the team hoping to unlock more performance during the afternoon. Rookie Taylor Barnard finished 16th on his first outing for DS Penske, while Joel Eriksson placed 17th in the second Envision entry.
Lola’s Lucas di Grassi ended the morning 18th after early-session technical issues disrupted his programme. Rookie Pepe Martí was 19th for CUPRA Kiro, and Zane Maloney rounded out the timesheets.
