Day one of the official pre-season test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia saw NIO Formula E Team driver Oliver Turvey set the pace with a lap time of 1m18.565s, followed closely by Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi with his best time of 1m18.577s.
Ahead of the day’s test sessions, NIO Formula E Team revealed its season four livery, alongside the announcement that Italian racer Luca Filippi will be joining Oliver Turvey for the 2017/18 FIA Formula E Championship. The news was followed by Andretti Formula E Team’s decision to retain Felix da Costa for season four.
With testing underway, the temporary chicane on the start/finish line caused trouble for DS Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird and Venturi Formula E Team’s James Rossiter, raising the red flag on both occasions. Further interruptions followed due to reliability issues for TECHEETAH’s Andre Lotterer and Venturi Formula E Team’s Edoardo Mortara, with a spin late on in the day for TECHEETAH’s Jean-Eric Vergne.
With sunshine throughout the day, DS Virgin Racing’s Alex Lynn completed the most laps with a total of 48, while his teammate Sam Bird topped the morning session with a time of 1m18.669s.
Bringing the day to a close, Montreal E-Prix Ambassador Patrick Carpentier got back behind the wheel of the Spark SRT_01E for a second time, after his debut drive in Montreal. Pushing the limits of the car on a number of laps on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.
Combined classification - Day 1 - Valencia Pre-Season Test
1 16 Oliver Turvey NIO Formula E team 1:18.565
2 9 Sebastien Buemi Renault e.Dams 1:18.577
3 1 Lucas Di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 1:18.579
4 19 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Racing 1:18.643
5 2 Sam Bird DS Virgin Racing 1:18.669
6 66 Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 1:18.697
7 36 Alex Lynn DS Virgin Racing 1:18.957
8 25 Jean Eric Vergne TECHEETAH 1:19.016
9 20 Mitch Evans Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:19.063
10 8 Nicolas Prost Renault e.Dams 1:19.097
11 23 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Racing 1:19.117
12 18 Andre Lotterer TECHEETAH 1:19.491
13 3 Nelson Piquet Jr. Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:19.627
14 7 Jerome D'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 1:19.991
15 27 Alexander Sims Andretti Formula E 1:20.094
16 28 Antonio Felix Da Costa Andretti Formula E 1:20.107
17 5 James Rossiter Venturi Formula E Team 1:20.159
18 68 Luca Filippi NIO Formula E team 1:20.642
19 4 Edoardo Mortara Venturi Formula E Team 1:20.712
20 6 Neel Jani Dragon Racing 1:21.888