Alexander Sims keeps BMW Andretti on top to complete the three-day 2018/19 FIA Formula E Championship pre-season test Valencia in a wet/dry day.
A late lap on a drying Valencia track from Sims of 1m17.402s put BMW Andretti on top to end the three-day pre-season test with the German manufacturer completing a flawless run at the top on all the three days of the running.
The British driver beat DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne’s 1m17.620s lap time to dislodge him from the top spot in the dying stages of the afternoon session. Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans (1m17.864s) ended up third.
Another newcomer along with Sims, Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein (1m17.888s) was fourth with Dragon Racing’s Maximilian Gunther (1m17.947s) in fifth – the last of the drivers’ under the 1m17s bracket.
Virgin’s Robin Frijns (1m18.088s) and HWA Racelab’s Gary Paffet (1m18.164s) made it seven different teams in the Top 7 with Virgin’s Sam Bird (1m18.219s) in eighth as Nissan’s Sebastien Buemi (1m18.220s) and Audi’s Lucas di Grassi (1m18.269s) rounded the Top 10.
With Gunther in one car, Dragon gave Antonio Fuoco (1m18.284s) a chance in the second car in the afternoon session with Jose Maria Lopez running the morning session. The Italian finished 11th from Mahindra Racing’s Jerome D’Ambrosio (1m18.409s).
Audi’s Daniel Abt (1m18.479s) was 13th ahead of the two NIO cars of Tom Dillmann (1m18.778s) and Oliver Turvey (1m19.083s) in 14th and 15th respectively with Venturi’s Felipe Massa (1m19.328s) in 16th.
With Stoffel Vandoorne in USA for the US GP, Dani Juncadella (1m19.353s) drove his HWA Racelab car to be 17th with Nissan finally fielding a second driver in the form of Oliver Rowland (1m20.416s) as Alexander Albon closes in on a F1 drive with Toro Rosso.
Jaguar’s Nelson Piquet (1m21.997s), DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer (1m23.048s), BMW Andretti’s Antonio Felix da Costa (1m23.121s) and Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara (1m29.024s) completed the 23 runners.
There were several red flags on the final day of the test with Piquet, Mortara, Massa, D’Ambrosio, Rowland and Gunther all having problems in their run. Mortara didn’t run in the whole of the afternoon session.