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Formula E

Formula E pre-season testing ends with Mortara on top

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

Edoardo Mortara topped the final day of Formula E’s pre-season in Valencia, as the ominously strong pace of the Mercedes-powered cars continued.

Mortara had already prevailed in the qualifying simulation on the first day for Venturi customer outfit and was a part of the Mercedes-powered 1-2-3-4 in the race simulation on the second day.

On the third and final day, Mortara topped the mammoth six-hour test session with a 1m25.763s, the fastest time set of the three-day test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

He edged DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne by 0.041s, while the factory Mercedes EQ of Stoffel Vandoorne was third and also within a tenth of Mortara’s benchmark.

Mitch Evans (Jaguar) and Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) made late improvements to complete the top five.

Defending series champion Nyck de Vries was able to make it three Mercedes-powered cars in the top six ahead of the Audi-powered Envision duo of Nick Cassidy and day one pacesetter Robin Frijns.

Vergne’s team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa was ninth-quickest with Alexander Sims 10th for Mahindra.

Andretti’s Oliver Askew was the only one of the three rookies taking part in the session with Antonio Giovinazzi (Dragon-Penske) and Dan Ticktum (NIO 333) arriving in Saudi Arabia for their respective Formula 1 and Formula 2 weekends.

Askew survived a red flag-inducing spin in the morning, and would go on to set the 17th-fastest time.

Ex-Jaguar Formula E driver Adam Carroll deputised for the absent Ticktum at NIO 333, but was slowest and 1.3s off the pace of his team-mate Oliver Turvey.

Dragon elected not to replace Giovinazzi, while his team-mate Sergio Sette Camara stopped on track before recovering to go 19th-quickest.

Combined testing classification

Pos. Driver Team Lap Gaps
1 Edoardo Mortara Venturi 1:25.763
2 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah 1:25.804 0.041
3 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 1:25.861 0.098
4 Mitch Evans Jaguar 1:25.884 0.121
5 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 1:25.895 0.132
6 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 1:25.901 0.138
7 Nick Cassidy Envision 1:25.913 0.150
8 Robin Frijns Envision 1:25.918 0.155
9 Antonio Felix da Costa DS Techeetah 1:26.061 0.298
10 Jake Dennis Andretti 1:26.100 0.337
11 Alexander Sims Mahindra 1:26.107 0.344
12 Sam Bird Jaguar 1:26.162 0.399
13 Oliver Rowland Mahindra 1:26.197 0.434
14 Lucas di Grassi Venturi 1:26.256 0.493
15 Andre Lotterer Porsche 1:26.419 0.656
16 Sebastien Buemi Nissan 1:26.472 0.709
17 Oliver Askew Andretti 1:26.519 0.756
18 Sergio Sette Camara Dragon 1:26.577 0.814
19 Max Guenther Nissan 1:26.765 1.002
20 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 1:26.882 1.119
21 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon 1:26.894 1.131
22 Adam Carroll NIO 333 1:28.192 2.429
23 Dan Ticktum NIO 333 1:28.791 3.028
24 Alice Powell Envision 1:29.724 3.961
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