BMW Andretti kept its top spot for the second consecutive day of 2018/19 FIA Formula E Championship test at Valencia with Antonio Da Costa heading the timesheet.
Da Costa’s time of 1m16.977s set in the morning session was enough for the Portuguese driver to be on top from DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne (1m17.342s). After their teammates were 1-2 on Day 1, it was their chance to do it on Day 2.
Third went to Mahindra Racing’s Jerome D’Ambrosio (1m17.431s). The times from morning session stayed pretty much as the afternoon session was devoted for a 45 minutes (+1 lap) race simulation where the drivers couldn’t improve on their times hugely.
DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotter (1m17.437s) was fourth from Nissan’s sole driver Sebastien Buemi (1m17.473s) and Audi’s Lucas di Grassi (1m17.535s). Venturi’s Felipe Massa (1m17.696s) was seventh from BMW Andretti’s Alexander Sims (1m17.698s).
Edoardo Mortara (1m17.729s) was ninth with Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein (1m17.781s) rounding the Top 10. Dragon’s Jose Maria Lopez (1m17.830s) was 11th from Audi’s Daniel Abt (1m17.866s) in 12th.
The German driver caused a red flag when he hit the makeshift chicane and co-incidentally HWA Racelab’s Stoffel Vandoorne (1m18.032s) also stopped at the circuit at the same time in the afternoon session during Attack Mode simulation.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans (1m17.975s) was 13th from the aforementioned Vandoorne with Virgin Audi’s Sam Bird (1m18.115s) in 15th, followed by the two NIO drivers Tom Dillmann (1m18.217s) and Oliver Turvey (1m18.240s).
In 18th was Virgin Audi of Robin Frijns (1m18.288s) from Jaguar’s Nelson Piquet Jr (1m18.498s) as Dragon’s Antonio Fuoco (1m18.778s) slotted in 20th. The Italian was given track time in the morning session as he missed running in the afternoon on Day 1.
HWA Racelab’s Gary Paffet (1m19.382s) finished 21st with Dragon’s Maximilian Gunther (1m19.540s) in 22nd after taking over the car from Fuoco in the afternoon session. Buemi double-shifted driving the Alexander Albon’s car once again.
The Thai-British driver embroiled in a contractual dispute with a possible Formula 1 move with Toro Rosso. With the late switch seemingly looking likely, Nissan brought in Oliver Rowland as a replacement of him.
Meanwhile, the race simulation had some dramas as well with di Grassi winning from Sims and Abt as Da Costa made it Audi and BMW in 1-2-3-4. Frijns was fifth from Gunther with D’Ambrosio in sixth for Mahindra.
The Top 10 saw Vergne, Lopez and Wehrlein as Mortara, Massa, Lotterer, Piquet, Dillmann, Buemi and Vandoorne couldn’t complete the full simulation.
