On Thursday, July 10, E.dams-Renault’s Sebastien Buemi set the fastest time of pre-season testing at Donington Park with a lap of 1:31.083s to finish two-tenths clear at the top of the timesheets for the second day in succession. The 25-year-old Swiss, who has now topped three of the four pre-season tests, beat the previous best time set by Audi Sport ABT driver Lucas di Grassi.
“Today has been a very good day,” said Buemi. “This morning we concentrated on race pace working on putting in lots of laps and finding the best balance with the temperatures of the tyres and battery. We continued to focus on race pace in the afternoon, as well as qualifying runs. Credit again has to go to the team for giving me such a good car and the confidence to push and we’ll now see how we can improve for the next one.”
With few reliability problems, all 10 teams racked up the mileage with a combined total of 840 laps for the day.
Di Grassi initially lowered the benchmark clocking a 1:31:282s in the morning session.
The Brazilian, who went quickest on day two, has looked strong throughout testing saying: “We are making good progress every test and every time I get in the car. We understand the car a little better but it’s difficult to do a lot of representative work in Donington compared to some of the circuits we will race on throughout the season. The most important thing is to learn about the battery, the motor and tyre pressures but not necessarily fine tuning set-up at this track.”
Ex-Formula 1 and GP2 driver Jerome d’Ambrosio ended the day third for China Racing while Scott Speed, testing for Andretti Autosport, was a place further back in fourth. Briton’s Sam Bird who headed-up testing duties for Virgin Racing in the afternoon session finished fifth with team-mate Jaime Alguersuari seven places back in 12th.
Audi Sport ABT driver Daniel Abt put in a strong performance in sixth position, ahead of Nicolas Prost in the e.dams-Renault. Despite a brief visit to the gravel trap in the morning, Jarno Trulli produced his quickest time of the test so far to finish ninth overall.
Nick Heidfeld taking over from his Venturi team-mate Stephane Sarrazin managed 78 laps on his way to eighth in the standings.
Andretti Autosport’s Franck Montagny started the day with blistering pace, clocking his fastest time of the test so far with a 1:32.958s. He eventually improved by a further four-tenths to complete the day just outside the top 10.
Argentina's Juan Manuel Lopez spent the day behind the wheel of the China Racing car and finished in a respectable 15th position.
FIA Formula E Championship – Day 4, Donington Park – Test results (Combined times):
1. Sebastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, 1:31.083s
2. Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT, 1:31.282s
3. Jerome d’Ambrosio, China Racing, 1:31.651s
4. Scott Speed, Andretti Autosport, 1:31.810s
5. Sam Bird, Virgin Racing, 1:31.895s
6. Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, 1:32.080s
7. Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, 1:32.124s
8. Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, 1:32.126s
9. Jarno Trulli, Trulli, 1:32.479s
10. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, 1:32.506s
11. Franck Montagny, Andretti Autosport, 1:32.512s
12. Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, 1:32.583s
13. Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing, 1:33.019s
14. Oriol Servia, Dragon Racing, 1:33.083s
15. Juan Manuel Lopez, China Racing, 1:33.425s
16. Michela Cerruti, Trulli, 1:33.544s
17. Mike Conway, Dragon Racing, 1:33.692s
18. Katherine Legge, Amlin Aguri, 1:33.778s
19. Fabio Leimer, Amlin Aguri, 1:38.988s
The fifth and final test takes place on August 19 with free access to fans via the Donington Park website.
For more information on Formula E visit www.fiaformulae.com.
