---
title: "Buemi quickest in Long Beach first practice"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/04/02/buemi-quickest-in-long-beach-first-practice/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Tim Lumb"
section: "Formula E"
published: "2016-04-02T16:26:15Z"
modified: "2016-04-02T16:26:15Z"
---

# Buemi quickest in Long Beach first practice

Sebastien Buemi was quickest in the first practice session of the Long Beach ePrix, in a session which didn’t provide much drama.

The Swiss driver was 0.4 seconds ahead of DS Virgin’s Sam Bird, clocking a 57.383. Buemi is currently the leading driver in the Formula E championship, and was the quickest driver in both practice sessions at the Mexico ePrix three weeks ago.

Bird was the best of the rest, and is currently third place in the Drivers Championship. The Brit is one of five drivers to win a race so far this season, and has been quick through the year. Simona De Silvestro snuck into the top three with five minutes ago, and she was quicker than Andretti teammate Robert Frijns by 6 thousandths.

Salvador Duran rounded off the top five with a 58.12 lap time, while Stephane Sarrazin in the Venturi car was the last driver to get within one second of Buemi. Antonio Felix da Costa was 0.65 seconds slower than his Venturi teammate Duran.

![Formula E, Lucas di Grassi, Mexico ePrix](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/03/DiGrassi-904x603.jpg)

Lucas di Grassi finished the session in eighth. The Brazilian asked his team over the radio near the end of the session whether practice was finished, after he passed a number of cars cruising. He will hope that he is further up the classification for qualifying as he makes up for the disqualification in Mexico City.

His teammate Daniel Abt was not too far behind him, but finished 10th in the practice session as Renault e.dams driver Nico Prost separated them. 0.015 was all that separated seventh and tenth.

Jean-Eric Vergne in the DS Virgin Racing machine ended the session in 11th, still struggling with the brakes on the car. Loc Duval and Jerome D’Ambrosio for Dragon Racing finished 12th and 13th, with 0.009 seconds the difference between the two.

Oliver Turvey beat his championship defending teammate Nelson Piquet Jr in the practice session, the two finishing 14th and 16th respectively. Mike Conway separated them in 15th, and had a moment going into turn five near the beginning of the session. The two Mahindra Racing drivers, Nick Heidfeld and Bruno Senna, will be disappointed that they finished at the bottom of the standings.

The first practice session didn’t have the drama of the equivalent session in Mexico City three weeks ago, with Mike Conway having to go straight on at turn five the closest anyone got to crashing.