Venturi driver Stephane Sarrazin posted the quickest time of in-season testing at Punta del Este, narrowly edging out yesterday’s race winner Sebastien Buemi.

 

The Frenchman set his best lap of the day in the final minutes clocking a 1:14.649s, over a tenth clear of Buemi.

 

Sarrazin said: “It’s been a good day after a disappointing race yesterday. We had the speed but I made a mistake and could have picked up some good points. Today we worked on some big set-up changes as there’s normally no time and we’ve not wanted to risk it before a race. With the track rubbering in, everything came together. It’s been a very positive day.”

Nelson Piquet Jr. continued his impressive form for China Racing ending the day in third place ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Andretti’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

 

Vergne, who only ran in the morning session, didn’t wait to get started setting blistering pace in the opening 30 minutes beating his pole position time from yesterday’s qualifying session by half a second.

 

Championship leader and Audi Sport ABT driver Lucas di Grassi finished sixth with e.dams-Renault’s Nicolas Prost a further place back.

 

The majority of the field focussed on race simulations and battery management throughout the day but after a late flurry of activity in the final minutes the lap times reduced significantly.

 

After both suffering early retirements in the race yesterday, Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and Amlin Aguri’s Antonio Felix da Costa finished the session in eighth and ninth respectively.

 

Argentinean driver Esteban Guerrieri made a brief appearance late in the afternoon session to complete five laps for China Racing.

 

The teams used the limited testing time available to record a total of 1086 laps, covering a distance of 3040km.

 

Summing up the event in Punta del Este, Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said: “We had another fantastic race here in Punta del Este. A fantastic event. We saw action all the time. I was really happy about how the FanBoost worked – it really got into the race. I think it shows that the fans have a real influence in the race. Now I’m looking forward to the next one.”

FIA Formula E Championship – Punta del Este in-season test session – Results (combined morning and afternoon):

 

  1. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, 1:14.649s
  2. Sebastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, +0.157s
  3. Nelson Piquet Jr, China Racing, +0.184s
  4. Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, +0.192s
  5. Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti, +0.326s
  6. Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT, +0.350s
  7. Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, +0.407s
  8. Sam Bird, Virgin Racing, +0.720s
  9. Antonio Felix da Costa, Amlin Aguri, +0.777s
  10. Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing, +0.829s
  11. Antonio Garcia, China Racing, +0.913s
  12. Jerome d’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +0.922s
  13. Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, +1.025s
  14. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +1.051s
  15. Jarno Trulli, Trulli, +1.654s
  16. Oriol Servia, Dragon Racing, +1.743s
  17. Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, +2.935s
  18. Michela Cerruti, Trulli, +2.987s
  19. Matthew Brabham, Andretti, +4.123s
  20. Salvador Duran, Amlin Aguri, +4.816s
  21. Esteban Guerrieri, China Racing, +5.913s

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