Heavy rain cancels both Ad Diriyah E-Prix practice sessions

Both practice sessions for the inaugural Formula E Ad Diriyah E-Prix have been cancelled due to heavy rain. 

Overnight rain in Riyadh had left the new 1.5-mile circuit soaked before further rain fell ahead of the planned opening practice session of the 2018/19 Formula E campaign, which sees the debut of the new longer-lasting, more powerful Gen2 car. 

FP1 had been scheduled for a 7am local time start but after an initial delay, and with track conditions failing to improve, a decision was taken to cancel the session altogether 20 minutes after it was due to start. 

An extended practice session lasting one hour was then scheduled for 8.35am local time, though that was also scrapped with no improvement to the amount of standing water on the circuit, despite the best efforts of track workers who had attempted to sweep and pump the water away. 

It means drivers will head into qualifying without having driven the Ad Diriyah Street Circuit in anger, with their only physical track experience coming during Friday's shakedown.

Fp1 Fp2 cancelled. Don’t really feel like going into quali for one lap on 250kw.... @FIAFormulaE why not do a quali session with no group for 45 min? Gives us the chance to test our system/ get ready for the race and push to get a quick time for start order ?

— Jean-Eric Vergne (@JeanEricVergne) December 15, 2018