Buemi tops opening day of testing

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

A quick lap from reigning champion Sebastien Buemi towards the end of the day saw the Swiss driver come within two tenths of the lap record, ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the Mahindra and ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi.

Both the morning and afternoon sessions were stop-start affairs as multiple issues throughout the pit lane punctuated red flags throughout the day. The first stoppage was caused by Venturi’s latest signing Maro Engel as an electronics issue brought his morning to an abrupt halt.

Not long after, his team mate Stephane Sarrazin beached his car into the gravel, forcing the second red flag of the day and prompting the use of the recovery vehicle.

There were also excursions for Heidfeld and Nelson Piquet Jr, before Loic Duval put his Dragon Racing machine into the wall and causing damage to the front wing.

It was a positive day to the newbies of Formula E, with Jaguar consistently lapping amongst the quickest of the day, with Alex Lynn winding up sixth ahead of team mate Adam Carroll in ninth. Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra’s latest recruit, also showed well and ended the day seventh overall.

Jose Maria Lopez, in action for DS Virgin Racing, has a fairly anonymous run to the tenth fastest time while Engel’s earlier problems left him propping up the field, 3.9s off the pace set by Buemi.

With only one day of the official tests gone and teams due to get even faster, di Grassi’s lap record from last year looks to be under threat as Buemi came within touching distance with only a handful of minutes to run.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7626″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” title=”Day one standings”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]