Twitter Facebook Youtube

Turvey leads interrupted afternoon session

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

The afternoon session of the first day of pre-season testing ended with NIO’s Oliver Turvey heading the times ahead of Sebastien Buemi and reigning champion Lucas di Grassi, but wasn’t without incident as the red flag was thrown four times.

Felix Rosenqvist set an early benchmark of 1:18.779s and remained untroubled until 20 minutes from the end as the Mahindra’s time was beaten by the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler of Daniel Abt, who posted a 1:18.697s to usurp the Swede.

Not long after, di Grassi set the fastest time of the day with a 1:18.579s but times tumbled further as Buemi had a brief stint at the top of the times before Turvey nailed in a 1:18.565s for the fastest time of the day.

Bird’s DS Virgin is recovered
Photo: Hazel Southwell

The first hour was interrupted by an incident at the temporary chicane which saw morning pace-setter Sam Bird clout the barrier with his right rear, while Buemi took to the track in the ensuing red flag period to express his displeasure with the tight chicane.

Not long after the session resumed the red flag was thrown once again as Andre Lotterer’s Techeetah ground to a halt at turn seven, due to an apparent mechanical issue.

It wasn’t long before the third red flag of the afternoon came out as Edoardo Mortara’s Venturi pulled to the side of the track, the tow truck once again being called into action.

Track running resumed and Lotterer soon put his early misfortune behind him to take the tenth fastest time of the afternoon, but the session was once again stopped as Lotterer’s team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne went off the track at turn seven, with his Techeetah having to be recovered on the back of a flatbed truck.

The final half hour ran without incident and as the chequered flag fell on the opening day Turvey topped the times.

Testing will resume tomorrow morning at 9am local time.

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

Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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

About Topher Smith
Topher is an experienced and passionate Motorsport journalist with Formula E, Formula 1, GP2/F2, GP3 and IndyCar all on his resume. When he isn't at the trackside you can find him furthering his own capabilities and knowledge through his endless search for original ideas and material. Also plays league pool.