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Formula E testing: Buemi puts Renault e.dams on top on final day

Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi signed off the final official pre-season test before the 2016/17 opener in Hong Kong with a new lap record at Donington Park

The Renault e.dams driver engaged in a morning battle for fastest lap with Jean-Eric Vergne, who is driving for Renault customer team Techeetah.

Vergne was first to lower the lap record he set on Tuesday, narrowly dipping under that benchmark with a 1m29.109s.

But Buemi became the first driver to post a sub-1m29s lap of Donington in his works Renault Z.E.16, clocking a 1m28.910s.

That time stood as the best despite a late flurry of qualifying simulations at the end of the day, which ended with Buemi topping the afternoon session on a 1m29.002s.

Nicolas Prost made it a Renault e.dams one-two in the afternoon, lapping two tenths slower than his team-mate, while Vergne should have improved late on but made an error.

That consigned him to a 1m29.296s in the afternoon, which he ended fourth-fastest, 0.014s slower than DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird.

Abt Audi Sport driver Lucas di Grassi was in the mid-1m29s in the afternoon and would have been in the mix to improve further but went off into the gravel while on a personal best.

The ensuing red flag ended his team's record of being the only outfit not to cause a stoppage across the six days of testing.

In the afternoon session the top 13 runners, comprising eight teams, were covered by less than a second - with Jaguar and Venturi the outliers.

Mitch Evans did post the British manufacturer's best lap of testing on a 1m30.061s, less than a tenth quicker than Stephane Sarrazin's best for Venturi.

MORNING TIMES

Pos Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 1m28.910s 25
2 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah Renault 0.199s 33
3 Daniel Abt Abt ABT Schaeffler 0.512s 21
4 Sam Bird Virgin DS Virgin 0.598s 24
5 Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 0.746s 30
6 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Penske 0.791s 22
7 Loic Duval Dragon Penske 0.793s 21
8 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Mahindra 0.803s 20
9 Ma Qinghua Techeetah Renault 0.816s 23
10 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Andretti 1.343s 26
11 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 1.689s 19
12 Maro Engel Venturi Venturi 1.740s 23
13 Nelson Piquet Jr. NextEV NEXTEV TCR 1.750s 15
14 Adam Carroll Jaguar Jaguar 1.986s 28
15 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi Venturi 2.041s 23
16 Lucas di Grassi Abt ABT Schaeffler 2.987s 22
17 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Mahindra 3.317s 22
18 Oliver Turvey NextEV NEXTEV TCR 3.446s 27
19 Robin Frijns Andretti Andretti 3.614s 25
20 Jose Maria Lopez Virgin DS Virgin 3.941s 22

AFTERNOON TIMES

Pos Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 1m29.002s 34
2 Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 0.203s 39
3 Sam Bird Virgin DS Virgin 0.280s 24
4 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah Renault 0.294s 28
5 Loic Duval Dragon Penske 0.393s 19
6 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Penske 0.427s 18
7 Jose Maria Lopez Virgin DS Virgin 0.486s 21
8 Lucas di Grassi Abt ABT Schaeffler 0.509s 26
9 Ma Qinghua Techeetah Renault 0.647s 28
10 Oliver Turvey NextEV NEXTEV TCR 0.715s 23
11 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Mahindra 0.738s 33
12 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Mahindra 0.882s 28
13 Robin Frijns Andretti Andretti 0.979s 14
14 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar 1.059s 30
15 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Andretti 1.083s 35
16 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi Venturi 1.119s 18
17 Nelson Piquet Jr. NextEV NEXTEV TCR 1.248s 19
18 Adam Carroll Jaguar Jaguar 1.277s 14
19 Maro Engel Venturi Venturi 1.353s 24
20 Daniel Abt Abt ABT Schaeffler 3.056s 30


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