The new Maserati and McLaren teams completed their first official day of racing as the fastest Formula E outfits on day one of pre-season testing in Valencia – the first public test of the series’ Gen3 machines.
Maximilian Guenther was the driver who secured Maserati the fastest times, with Jake Hughes second fastest in both three-hour sessions for McLaren.
It wasn’t all easy for Hughes, however, as he stopped on the track an hour into the afternoon session between turns 5 and 6, with his McLaren-Nissan picked up by a recovery truck.
Guenther led the morning and afternoon sessions, his 1m26.096s proving to be the best time of the day as increasing rain in the afternoon session prevented any significant improvement.
The Maserati driver’s time was just over three-tenths of a second off Edoardo Mortara’s best time in last year’s practice, a 1m25.763s he clocked in the Venturi team’s Gen2 car- mercedes.
Guenther’s afternoon best of 1m26.221s would also have been good enough for third place overall in the combined times.
That position was instead occupied by Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, who was comfortably the quickest of the drivers who improved their times in the afternoon for Porsche.
Oliver Rowland made four different top four outfits for Mahindra, finishing a quarter of a second behind Guenther, with Mortara’s second Maserati rounding out the top five.
Defending champion Stoffel Vandoorne was sixth fastest for the new-look DS Penske alliance. His teammate Jean-Eric Vergne finished ninth overall after finding time in the afternoon session.
Summarizing the team’s day, a DS Penske spokesperson told The Race: “We continually learned from the car and saw progress throughout the day.
“It was great to finally face the competition. We managed to execute our program as planned. It was a positive first day overall.
Between those two were champions Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) and Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra), with the top 10 completed by Abt Cupra driver Robin Frijns.
Mitch Evans, a title contender in each of the past two seasons for Jaguar, finished 14th in combined times. He spun at Turn 5 in the morning session, causing a red flag.
Nick Cassidy, who was one seat down, started from the same spot earlier in the morning, but his exit in the Envision-Jaguar was attributed to a brake problem.
NIO 333 driver Sergio Sette Camara stopped in the afternoon session, following a broken coolant sensor, and did not return to the track. His teammate Dan Ticktum was 12th fastest.
Sébastien Buemi didn’t sign a time in the afternoon, his Envision-Jaguar plagued by an unspecified technical problem, and finished 19th. His former team Nissan occupied two of the last three places, with Sacha Fenestraz 20th and Norman Nato 21st.
The NATO car required a powertrain change.
Times stalled René Rast’s second McLaren.
In addition to a fictional simulation of a race weekend taking place on Wednesday, The Race understands that the FIA is also considering adding a few more races in the late afternoon or evening on Thursday, which is currently planned. like a day off.
Combined day once
| Position | Driver | Crew | Time | MORNING AFTERNOON |
| 1 | Maximilien Guenther | maserati | 1m26.096s | A M |
| 2 | Jacques Hughes | McLaren | 1m26.178s | A M |
| 3 | Pascal Wehrlein | Porsche | 1m26.262s | PM |
| 4 | Olivier Rowland | Mahindra | 1m26.351s | A M |
| 5 | Edward Mortara | maserati | 1m26.505s | A M |
| 6 | Stoffel Vandoorne | DS Penske | 1m26.531s | A M |
| seven | Antoine Felix da Costa | Porsche | 1m26.625s | A M |
| 8 | Lucas de Grassi | Mahindra | 1m26.755s | A M |
| 9 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Penske | 1m26.851s | PM |
| ten | Robin fries | Approx. | 1m26.925s | A M |
| 11 | Other lotteries | Andretti | 1m26.949s | PM |
| 12 | And Ticktum | NIO 333 | 1m27.055s | PM |
| 13 | Jacques Denis | Andretti | 1m27.084s | PM |
| 14 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar | 1m27.135s | PM |
| 15 | Nick Cassidy | Consider | 1m27.143s | PM |
| 16 | Sergio Sette Camara | NIO 333 | 1m27.228s | A M |
| 17 | Nico Müller | Approx. | 1m27.336s | PM |
| 18 | Sam Bird | Jaguar | 1m27.355s | A M |
| 19 | Sebastien Buemi | Consider | 1m27.471s | A M |
| 20 | Sacha Fenestraz | Nissan | 1m27.725s | PM |
| 21 | Norman NATO | Nissan | 1m27.801s | A M |
| 22 | Rene Rast | McLaren | 1m28.009s | A M |
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