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Sebastien Buemi has had a massive crash in the opening practice session for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship at the Cape Town ePrix.
Buemi crashed heavily into the walls of the 2.92km street circuit between Turn 9 and 10 in Free Practice 1, causing significant damage to his Envision Racing entry.
The 2015-16 Formula E title winner and former Formula 1 driver was seemingly okay in the aftermath, apologising over the team radio following the incident, which caused the session to be red-flagged.
Shortly afterwards, the Swiss driver was able to get out of the vehicle.
Red flag! 🔴@Sebastien_Buemi is out of FP1 after a heavy crash.
Thankfully, he’s out of the car and is okay.#CapeTownEPrix
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) February 24, 2023
Free Practice 1 resumed with 10 minutes on the clock, before the session was brought to a pause five minutes later after South African driver Kelvin van der Linde’s ABT Cupra entry arrived to a stop at Turn 7 following a reported a driveshaft issue.
There was also drama for Lucas di Grassi, who reported a suspension and rear-end failure in his Mahindra Racing entry.
Six-time Formula E race winner Edoardo Mortara topped the timesheets for Free Practice 1 in the Maserati MSG Racing with a time of 1:09.700s.
Jaguar TCS Racing driver Sam Bird was ahead of Frenchman Sacha Fenestraz in the Nissan, with Antonio Felix da Costa next for the Porsche squad.
Dan Ticktum was fifth in the Nio 333 Racing entry, ahead of McLaren driver Rene Rast.
Maximilian Gunther (Maserati MSG Racing), Sergio Sette Camara (Nio 333 Racing), Norman Nato (Nissan) and New Zealander Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Formula E will return to the track for Free Practice 2 at 09:10 local time/18:10 AEDT, with qualifying following at 11:40 local time/20:40 AEDT, with the race itself to take place at 16:00 local time/01:00 AEDT Sunday, February 26.
