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Formula E pre-season testing: Lotterer ends first day fastest for Porsche

Andre Lotterer beat the cars of reigning teams' champion DS Techeetah to top the first day of Formula E pre-season testing in an afternoon session ended by a red flag

The Porsche driver posted a 1m12.519s effort with 20 minutes to go to climb to the top of the timing screens, despite not activating the 35kW boost of attack mode.

A three-hour afternoon session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia came to an early end when new Venturi Racing recruit Norman Nato ran into the gravel.

Nato, who replaces Felipe Massa at the team, had set the seventh fastest time when he came to a stop on the outside of Turn 7 with 12 minutes to go.

With the session not restarted, it meant Lotterer's effort in the dry was 5.5s quicker than the best morning time, set by Venturi's Edoardo Mortara.

It also marked the fastest-ever FE lap at the circuit, beating Maximilian Guenther's time from last year by 2.5s, although this follows the removal of the chicane from the main straight.

PLUS: How Formula E's pre-season test venue provides confusion and clarity

Jean-Eric Vergne was a late climber for DS Techeetah to move second, 0.088s behind Lotterer, despite the team continuing with last season's car for the first four races of 2020-21.

Vergne eclipsed defending champion and team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa by 0.04s, as new Envision Virgin Racing driver Nick Cassidy ran to fourth.

Alexander Sims was fifth in the Mahindra Racing machine ahead of three-time DTM champion Rene Rast for Audi.

Behind Nato, Nico Muller ran strongly for Dragon / Penske Autosport to claim eighth with BMW Andretti signing Jake Dennis edging Robin Frijns in the lower fringes of the top 10.

Lucas di Grassi was 11th with the all-new Audi powertrain, having activated his attack mode a session-highest four times.

Stoffel Vandoorne, in 15th, and 20th-placed Mercedes team-mate Nyck de Vries both fell foul of the new track limits imposed at the first and final corners.

They both collected a 15-minute stop-and-go penalty for repeated offences.

Meanwhile, after his late morning crash caused by a stuck throttle at Turn 6, Mitch Evans was 22nd fastest for Jaguar Racing, only ahead of Mortara and Tom Blomqvist for NIO 333.

Test times

Pos Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 Andre Lotterer Porsche Porsche 1m12.519s 31
2 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS 0.088s 34
3 Antonio Felix da Costa DS Techeetah DS 0.132s 36
4 Nick Cassidy Virgin Audi 0.170s 33
5 Alexander Sims Mahindra Mahindra 0.186s 42
6 Rene Rast Audi Audi 0.221s 37
7 Norman Nato Venturi Mercedes 0.258s 43
8 Nico Muller Dragon Penske 0.281s 28
9 Jake Dennis BMW BMW 0.318s 40
10 Robin Frijns Virgin Audi 0.341s 33
11 Lucas di Grassi Audi Audi 0.354s 33
12 Sebastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan 0.503s 33
13 Maximilian Guenther BMW BMW 0.540s 34
14 Oliver Rowland Nissan e.Dams Nissan 0.570s 33
15 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes Mercedes 0.582s 38
16 Sam Bird Jaguar Jaguar 0.585s 40
17 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche Porsche 0.621s 33
18 Alex Lynn Mahindra Mahindra 0.809s 39
19 Sergio Sette Camara Dragon Penske 0.973s 20
20 Nyck de Vries Mercedes Mercedes 1.056s 38
21 Oliver Turvey NIO NIO 1.567s 51
22 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 2.574s 5
23 Edoardo Mortara Venturi Mercedes 2.862s 40
24 Tom Blomqvist NIO NIO 3.496s 45

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