Müller sets new lap record in rookie test

Nico Müller has topped the timing sheets in the Marrakesh rookie test, piloting the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler to a new lap record around the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan, ahead of the Panasonic Jaguar Racing of Pietro Fittipaldi and Maximilian Günther in the Dragon Racing.

Günther had led for the majority of the afternoon session before Müller posted a late time of 1:19.651s to set the fastest time of the weekend, while Panasonic Jaguar Racing had a strong day in both sessions with Paul di Resta topping the times in the morning before finishing fourth in the afternoon.

The Techeetah of James Rossiter, who previously tested for Venturi in Valencia, was also consistently on the pace with second place in the morning, the afternoon session seeing the Brit stay in the top five.

Mahindra Racing’s Daniel Juncadella, who was also in action in pre-season testing at Valencia, improved from eighth in the morning to sixth in the afternoon while Antonio Giovinazzi in the DS Virgin Racing also was a regular presence in the top ten.

Giovinazzi team-mate Joel Eriksson was third fastest in the morning but slipped down the order in the afternoon en route to ninth overall, while the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler of Nyck de Vries encountered technical issues and was unable to set a time in the morning.

The Dutchman was able to take to the track later on and finished in the top ten with a time of 1:21.108s.

The Venturi of Michael Benyahia and the Renault e.dams Mitsunori Takaboshi both brought out red flags with on track stoppages, although the latter did feature in the top ten of the morning session before his afternoon excursion.

The full results of both sessions can be found here:

Morning
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Afternoon
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