BMW rookie Sims leads opening day of Formula E testing

Sims, who will make his FE debut in the upcoming campaign, also topped the morning session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo with a time of 1m17.567s.

But towards the end of the afternoon running, Sims moved back to the top of the overall timesheets with a 1m17.553s, as the majority of the drivers improved their best times in the second half of the day.

Andre Lotterer ended the day with the second-fastest time – a 1m17.654s, which put him 0.101s adrift of Sims.

Antonio Felix da Costa finished the day in the third place after ending the morning session as the second-fastest driver behind his BMW teammate by 0.167s.

Audi pair Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt both spent the morning session completing shorter runs and ended the day fourth and fifth overall.

Jerome D’Ambrosio, only announced as a Mahindra Racing driver on Tuesday morning, was sixth for his new squad, one spot ahead of reigning FE champion Jean-Eric Vergne, who was one of only three drivers that drove in both sessions not to go quicker in the afternoon.

Sebastien Buemi finished the day with the eighth fastest time, 0.547s slower than Sims. The Nissan e.DAMS driver also completed 16 laps in Alexander Albon’s car during the afternoon running.

Jose Maria Lopez was ninth for Dragon Racing, with FE newcomer Felipe Massa rounding out the top 10 for Venturi.

Felipe Massa, Venturi Formula E

1/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Nelson Piquet Jr., Jaguar Racing, Jaguar I-Type 3

2/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Gary Paffett, HWA Racelab, VFE-05, is recovered by the marshals.

3/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Jose Maria Lopez, Dragon Racing

4/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Mahindra Racing

5/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Antonio Felix da Costa, BMW I Andretti Motorsports, BMW iFE.1

6/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Sébastien Buemi, Nissan e.Dams

7/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Felipe Massa, Venturi Formula E

8/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Stoffel Vandoorne, HWA Racelab

9/15

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, Audi e-tron FE05

10/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Andre Lotterer, DS TECHEETAH, DS E-Tense FE19

11/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Felipe Massa, Venturi Formula E

12/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Tom Dillman, NIO Formula E Team, NIO Sport 004

13/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Sam Bird, Envision Virgin Racing, Audi e-tron FE05

14/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Mahindra Racing

15/15

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Long-time season four title contender Sam Bird was the highest-placed Virgin Racing driver in 11th, with his new teammate Robin Frijns ending up in 14th place.

Ex-Formula 1 racer Pascal Wehrlein was 13th.

Mitch Evans, like his Jaguar teammate Nelson Piquet Jr, also set his fastest time of the day in the morning session – and they ended up 16th and 20th fastest overall, with the latter completing a mammoth 27-lap stint just before the lunchbreak.

Evans also lost a significant chunk of his morning running due to a battery change.

Newly-crowned DTM champion and HWA driver Gary Paffett caused the first of two red flags of the day when he slid into the tight chicane that has been built three-quarters of the way down the start/finish straight to simulate the tighter confines of regular FE circuits.

The crash occurred with just over an hour of the morning session remaining, with Paffett rejoining in the afternoon after his car had been repaired to set the day’s 18th quickest time.

Paffett’s HWA teammate Stoffel Vandoorne was 19th fastest, 3.47s slower than Sims, but did not complete a lap in the afternoon session.

Maximilian Gunther was the slowest driver to set a timed lap, with Albon and Antonio Fuoco, who is sharing the #6 Dragon Racing car with Gunther this week, not setting a time all day.

The brief second red flag period occurred mid-way through the afternoon running to secure a loose part of the chicane tyre wall.

 Valencia Test, Day 1

	Driver	Morning	Afternoon
1	Alexander Sims BMW iFE.18	1'17.567 33 laps	1'17.553 41 laps
2	André Lotterer DS E-Tense FE 19	1'18.227 33 laps	1'17.654 36 laps
3	António Félix da Costa BMW iFE.18	1'17.734 36 laps	1'17.727 46 laps
4	Lucas di Grassi Audi e-tron FE05	1'17.739 38 laps	1'17.732 40 laps
5	Daniel Abt Audi e-tron FE05	1'18.513 40 laps	1'17.819 45 laps
6	Jérôme d'Ambrosio Mahindra M5 Electro	1'19.535 30 laps	1'17.987 30 laps
7	Jean-Éric Vergne DS E-Tense FE 19	1'18.033 22 laps	1'18.035 22 laps
8	Sébastien Buemi Nissan IM01	1'18.902 21 laps	1'18.100 14 laps
9	José María López Penske EV-3	1'20.631 29 laps	1'18.154 33 laps
10	Felipe Massa Venturi VFE05	1'19.140 39 laps	1'18.176 32 laps
11	Sam Bird Audi e-tron FE05	1'18.732 28 laps	1'18.456 21 laps
12	Tom Dillmann NIO 004	1'19.300 21 laps	1'18.504 45 laps
13	Pascal Wehrlein Mahindra M5 Electro	1'20.915 8 laps	1'18.606 27 laps
14	Robin Frijns Audi e-tron FE05	1'19.275 27 laps	1'18.690 20 laps
15	Edoardo Mortara Venturi VFE05	1'19.219 43 laps	1'18.707 25 laps
16	Mitch Evans Jaguar I-TYPE 3	1'18.747 15 laps	1'22.711 57 laps
17	Oliver Turvey NIO 004	1'20.865 18 laps	1'19.053 36 laps
18	Gary Paffett Venturi VFE05	1'22.083 7 laps	1'19.144 48 laps
19	Stoffel Vandoorne Venturi VFE05	1'21.023 13 laps
20	Nelson Piquet Jr Jaguar I-TYPE 3	1'21.629 42 laps	1'23.286 51 laps
21	Sébastien Buemi Nissan IM01		1'21.883 16 laps
22	Maximilian Günther Penske EV-3	1'32.242 3 laps