Nick Cassidy kept Jaguar TCS Racing at the top of the timesheets as Formula E pre-season testing concluded in Valencia.
In an extended day of running, to negate the time lost by Tuesday’s fire, the New Zealander set a best time of 1m24.617s, taking the top spot in the final 20 minutes of the day.
It was a busy final hour, with Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther on top initially as the clock ticked into the final 60 minutes. Guenther, who had gone fastest at three of the last four pre-season tests in Valencia, looked set to add to that record until Mitch Evans in the other Jaguar bettered him with half an hour to go. But just when it looked like Evans was to complete a clean sweep of pre-season — having topped the other two days of running — Guenther responded, before he was dethroned again, this time by Cassidy.
Evans’ Tuesday best remained the fastest time across all of testing, with power subsequently cut by 50kW to 300kW as a precaution for the test after Tuesday’s fire.
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Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns was fourth fastest, making it three Jaguar-powered cars in the top four, despite having been sidelined for part of the day after being forced to make a battery change. Pascal Wehrlein completed the top five ahead of Andretti Global’s Norman Nato, who was 0.094s quicker than teammate and reigning series champion Jake Dennis.
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland and NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes split the Andretti pair, with DS Penske driver Stoffel Vandoorne rounding out the top 10 ahead of Sebastien Buemi who completed a day high of 127 laps, a stark contrast to his Envision teammate Frijns whose lap count was lowest (60) after his issues.
After having its operation slimmed down after the WAE fire in an adjacent garage, Nyck de Vries took over Mahindra’s sole remaining car, and went 17th fastest, bettering the Mahindra-powered Abt Cupra entry of Nico Mueller by 0.059s.
Ahead of general testing, the day began with a 27-lap race simulation to give drivers a chance to run through things like start and pit procedures — the fast-charging pit stops being simulated too. Frijns finished that first, ahead of Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, but the result of the dress rehearsal was inconsequential and no points were on offer.