Formula E pre-season testing: Lotterer ends first day fastest for Porsche – Formula E
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Andre Lotterer beat the cars of reigning teams’ champion DS Techeetah to top the first day of Formula E pre-season testing in an afternoon session ended by a red flag.
The Porsche driver posted a 1m12.519s effort with 20 minutes to go to climb to the top of the timing screens, despite not activating the 35kW boost of attack mode.
A three-hour afternoon session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia came to an early end when new Venturi Racing recruit Norman Nato ran into the gravel.
Nato, who replaces Felipe Massa at the team, had set the seventh fastest time when he came to a stop on the outside of Turn 7 with 12 minutes to go.
With the session not restarted, it meant Lotterer’s effort in the dry was 5.5s quicker than the best morning time, set by Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara.
It also marked the fastest-ever FE lap at the circuit, beating Maximilian Guenther’s time from last year by 2.5s, although this follows the removal of the chicane from the main straight.
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Jean-Eric Vergne was a late climber for DS Techeetah to move second, 0.088s behind Lotterer, despite the team continuing with last season’s car for the first four races of 2020-21.
Vergne eclipsed defending champion and team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa by 0.04s, as new Envision Virgin Racing driver Nick Cassidy ran to fourth.
Alexander Sims was fifth in the Mahindra Racing machine ahead of three-time DTM champion Rene Rast for Audi.
Behind Nato, Nico Muller ran strongly for Dragon / Penske Autosport to claim eighth with BMW Andretti signing Jake Dennis edging Robin Frijns in the lower fringes of the top 10.
Lucas di Grassi was 11th with the all-new Audi powertrain, having activated his attack mode a session-highest four times.
Stoffel Vandoorne, in 15th, and 20th-placed Mercedes team-mate Nyck de Vries both fell foul of the new track limits imposed at the first and final corners.
They both collected a 15-minute stop-and-go penalty for repeated offences.
Meanwhile, after his late morning crash caused by a stuck throttle at Turn 6, Mitch Evans was 22nd fastest for Jaguar Racing, only ahead of Mortara and Tom Blomqvist for NIO 333.
Test times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andre Lotterer | Porsche | Porsche | 1m12.519s | 31 |
| 2 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | DS | 0.088s | 34 |
| 3 | Antonio Felix da Costa | DS Techeetah | DS | 0.132s | 36 |
| 4 | Nick Cassidy | Virgin | Audi | 0.170s | 33 |
| 5 | Alexander Sims | Mahindra | Mahindra | 0.186s | 42 |
| 6 | Rene Rast | Audi | Audi | 0.221s | 37 |
| 7 | Norman Nato | Venturi | Mercedes | 0.258s | 43 |
| 8 | Nico Muller | Dragon | Penske | 0.281s | 28 |
| 9 | Jake Dennis | BMW | BMW | 0.318s | 40 |
| 10 | Robin Frijns | Virgin | Audi | 0.341s | 33 |
| 11 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi | Audi | 0.354s | 33 |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.Dams | Nissan | 0.503s | 33 |
| 13 | Maximilian Guenther | BMW | BMW | 0.540s | 34 |
| 14 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.Dams | Nissan | 0.570s | 33 |
| 15 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes | Mercedes | 0.582s | 38 |
| 16 | Sam Bird | Jaguar | Jaguar | 0.585s | 40 |
| 17 | Pascal Wehrlein | Porsche | Porsche | 0.621s | 33 |
| 18 | Alex Lynn | Mahindra | Mahindra | 0.809s | 39 |
| 19 | Sergio Sette Camara | Dragon | Penske | 0.973s | 20 |
| 20 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes | Mercedes | 1.056s | 38 |
| 21 | Oliver Turvey | NIO | NIO | 1.567s | 51 |
| 22 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar | Jaguar | 2.574s | 5 |
| 23 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | Mercedes | 2.862s | 40 |
| 24 | Tom Blomqvist | NIO | NIO | 3.496s | 45 |
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