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Feature by Katy Fairman
Back for another year, the second running of the ‘Women’s Test’ gave the talent double the running compared to the inaugural opportunity last season. At the end of the six hours of track time, it was Chloe Chambers of Mahindra Racing who set the best time, but the day was about more than just lap times on a piece of paper.
It was a chance to get behind the wheel of the best electric single seater race car in the world, liaise with iconic global manufacturers and learn directly from world champion drivers. It is an opportunity that doesn’t exist in any other FIA governed championship, and is an evident commitment from the series in supporting the next generation of women in racing.
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Several drivers returned for more experience in the GEN3 Evo cars, after getting a feel for the rapid all-electric machines during the maiden Women's Test in Madrid last year. Chambers, who topped the timesheets on the final day of the 2025/26 pre-season test, represented Andretti during the test last year but made the switch to Mahindra for this season.
Her lap time, a 1m22.767s, was just four-tenths off the best time set by Envision Racing’s Joel Eriksson across the entire four-day test, with the Swede having 10 Formula E starts to his name. Chambers' best time was also quicker than what CUPRA KIRO’s Pepe Martí managed after his second session of pre-season testing, with the Spanish rookie joining Formula E for Season 12.
In addition to Chambers, F1 Academy World Champion Abbi Pulling returned and tested for the Nissan team. Pulling is no stranger to the Japanese manufacturer, having repped Nissan during the Women’s Test in 2024 and has since gone on to become their official rookie and simulator driver – a role which came about as a direct result of these kinds of opportunities.
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At the end of the day, Pulling was just 0.064s off Chamber’s top time with Bianca Bustamante third for CUPRA KIRO. More familiar faces populated the top 10, with Envision’s test and development driver Alice Powell ending the day fourth, despite limited track running due to a technical issue. Ella Lloyd also returned for a second consecutive season, switching from McLaren’s papaya for Envision Racing's glorious green to go fifth overall.
Jamie Chadwick was also back driving for the Jaguar TCS Racing team as part of her ongoing role with the team, with this being her fourth public outing in the GEN3 Evo after the three-time W Series participated in last year’s Women’s Test, Jeddah rookie free practice, the Berlin rookie test and now again in Valencia.
The top six were all within two seconds of the best time of the pre-season test, despite only having a third of the running time and no E-Prix experience between them.
Tatiana Calderon was seventh for Citroën Racing, with Nerea Martí eighth for Andretti and Marta García completing the top 10 for Lola Yamaha ABT. All the top 10 had experience of this latest generation of car before, except JuJu Noda who finished ninth for Jaguar TCS Racing.
Noda, who made history by becoming the first Japanese woman to race in Super Formula last year, is one of the biggest upcoming talents in the racing world, and chances like this only show what the 19-year-old is capable of. Despite never driving a Formula E car before, she was just 0.750s off her very experienced teammate Chadwick, who has been testing these electric single seaters since the 2019 Marrakech rookie test.
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Gabriela Jilkova and Janina Schall also powered on for Porsche, with Jessica Edgar back for more with DS PENSKE and was joined by Formula E newbie Lindsay Brewer.
“It's definitely a completely different car from anything I've ever driven, but it's incredible,” Brewer said about her time with the DS PENSKE car. “It's such a fun car to drive. I know lots of the women here have driven the GEN3 Evo car once, twice, even three times before, so I went in just wanting to learn and enjoy the process and enjoy this opportunity as much as I can.
“I'm just so grateful to be here, and I think if I can go away at the end of the day just improving my times, improving my sectors, and just enjoying the experience, that's what I'm hoping for. But, I'm still very competitive and I do want to drastically improve my lap time!”
What Lindsay Brewer says is true. As much as it’s nice to see the lap times and compare them to our more experienced grid, these opportunities are more than making headlines for being quickest. They are about collaboration, education and liberation for the grid of talented women.
“I would say, having done a few of these tests, you do have to set your ego aside,” Jamie Chadwick added. “There's so many variables in Formula E and I think it's very easy to get wrapped up in a lap time and be like, ‘I wish I was here’ or ‘I wish I was there’.
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“I think the best I've ever done in a Formula E test was the first one I ever did. You look at the names that I was up against, and I was like, ‘wow’, and then you realise, actually, it's a bit of a false sense of reality. It would be nice if we all went out and did a qualifying session, maybe, but in this instance, I don't look too much.”
Abbi Pulling also added: “I think all the teams have different priorities on what they're testing and want to achieve. Obviously as drivers, we want to be fast. But as I say, we're here for the teams, and we're all testing our own individual things and have our own individual plans, and where we end up is where we end up, obviously it would be nice to be based at the top.”
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