Yahoo Autos Da Costa tops opening day of FE pre-season test at Jarama
Antonio Felix da Costa topped the first day of Formula E testing at Jarama, Spain, as five teams and four drivetrains filled the top-five.
The TAG Heuer Porsche driver’s best time of 1m 29.220s came in the final hour of the day amid a flurry of late improvements, and put him 0.186s ahead of Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who similarly set his best time late in the three hour session.
Maximilian Guenther was the fastest of the drivers who have changed teams in the off-season, going third for DS Penske, ahead of Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara. Stoffel Vandoorne competed the top-five in his first public outing with Maserati MSG, and was the last of the drivers to crack the 1m 30s barrier.
Vandoorne headed a clutch of drivers in new homes, with Nico Mueller (Andretti) and Jake Hughes (Maserati) next up, while reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein was eighth after having topped the table early on. His fellow champions Jean-Eric Vergne and Lucas di Grassi rounding out the top 10 for the new Lola-Yamaha project.
Taylor Barnard, who has been promoted from a test and reserve role to race driver for NEOM McLaren this season, finished 12th quickest, having also topped the times in the first half of the session. He wound up behind Nyck de Vries in the second Mahindra, while Sebastien Buemi was 13th for Envision, his day being briefly interrupted late on after a pitlane stoppage for an unspecified technical issue.
McLaren’s Sam Bird was next up, ahead of Dan Ticktum who, alongside David Beckman, is testing with the rechristened Kiro Race Co., although the team has yet to officially confirm its race lineup for the upcoming season.
Zane Maloney was 16th in the second Lola-Yamaha, with Beckman and Robin Frijns completing the runners, although the Dutchman was the only driver to not set his best time with the full 350kw of power at his disposal.
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, and Nissan’s Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato were notably absent from the first day of running. Both Jaguar and Nissan were docked half a day of running as a result of a cost cap infringement, but due to the late change of venue from Valencia to Jarama, the first day of running was condensed to a single session in the afternoon, meaning neither team saw any track action at all on Tuesday. Both teams will be on track for the rest of the week.
