Envision Racing’s Cassidy, who enters this weekend’s double-header at the ExCeL London’s unique indoor/outdoor circuit 24 points behind Dennis in the championship, set a 1m11.264s three minutes from the end of the session which proved to be the fastest time.
This was after a crash in the final minute for Abt Cupra’s Robin Frijns at Turn 16, which brought out the red flag and prevented drivers from improving on their final runs.
The outside sections of the circuit remained damp on Saturday morning, meaning times were initially several seconds off the pace compared with FP1 on Friday afternoon, with Cassidy the first driver to go below the 1m15s mark.
Fellow New Zealander Mitch Evans, who is also in championship contention albeit 44 points behind Dennis, went faster with a 1m14.851s, but his best lap was almost immediately beaten by Maserati’s Edoardo Mortara and then McLaren’s Rene Rast.
Approaching the halfway point of the session, DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne hit the top of the times with a 1m14.121s before Sacha Fenestraz set a 1m14.085s.
Dennis became the first driver to set a sub 1m14s lap, registering a 1m13.966s, which was immediately beaten by Envision’s Sebastien Buemi who set a time almost eight tenths faster.
Dennis improved on his next lap, posting a 1m13.444s, which moved him closer to Buemi’s top time but still more than two tenths in arrears.
Approaching the final 10 minutes of the 30-minute session Evans sat at the top of times with a 1m12.861s before going even faster on his next run with a 1m12.596s.
Lap times continued to drop in the final minutes, with NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum moving into second on a 1m11.578s just before the red flag which was 0.314s slower than Cassidy’s best, with Buemi completing the top three.
Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, who is also mathematically still in contention for the drivers’ title this weekend, finished fourth 0.350s behind Cassidy’s best lap.
Andretti Autosport’s Dennis set a best lap of 1m11.781s which put him more than half a second behind Cassidy, with Jaguar’s Evans completing the top six.
Nissan’s Norman Nato topped Friday’s FP1 session with a 1m10.765s, just 0.006s faster than Buemi as the second Nissan of Fenestraz completed the top three.
Championship protagonists Evans, Cassidy and Wehrlein finished fifth, eighth and ninth respectively, with Dennis only 11th.
The championship leader had complained about a lack of balance all session and was 0.605s off Nato’s fastest lap.
