Renault e.dams driver heads field for consecutive days at Donington Park

Donington Park, UK - Sebastien Buemi broke the Formula E lap record at Donington Park as he once again set the fastest time in pre-season testing.

The RENAULT e.dams star set a best lap of 1:31.050s to beat the previous best time at Donington of 1:31.083s, which he recorded at the penultimate pre-season one test.

With a good crowd again taking advantage of free entry to see the Formula E cars in action, Buemi was not the only driver to use the full qualifying mode of 200kw to set his time.

“It was a bit of a scrappy lap, but it’s difficult to do a perfect lap around here,” he said. “I think we could go a second quicker, maybe even into the 1m29s. “I’m quite happy but we are really only at the start of the new package. Now we need to work on the details of the package. We could do quite a bit on the car and the car is a bit easier to drive, the stability is better, the brakes are better. I see some good potential, we just need to extract it from the car.”

Sam Bird was second fastest for DS Virgin Racing, lapping just over four tenths slower than Buemi with a 1:31.469s.

“Obviously we did plenty of work before this test so now at Donington it’s just a case of fine tuning and refining to make sure everything works 100 per cent for the first race in Beijing,” he said. “The car is quite a significant change with few gear changes needed but the guys at DS and Virgin have done a fantastic job and hopefully we can head into the season with a strong package.”

Third fastest was Daniel Abt, who had both Abt Schaeffler cars at his disposal after taking over from birthday boy Lucas di Grassi. The German’s best lap was 1:31.537s.

Abt said: “For the two days we decided to split the running with Lucas [di Grassi] testing on Monday and myself today. It helped us gain more consecutive running and work on set-up changes more easily. These past two days we’ve focused on fixing software issues and mechanical issues and we took a massive step forward from the first day to the second. The car felt good and fast and it feels like we have a good package.”

It was a good day for Mahindra Racing with Nick Heidfeld in fourth and Bruno Senna in sixth, completing over 50 laps throughout the course of the day.

GP2 race winner Tom Dillmann had his first proper test for Team Aguri and he racked up the laps, trying both qualifying simulations and a race run. He recorded the 10th fastest time. Andretti also managed to get out on track, but a series of teething troubles prevented Simona de Silvestro from setting a representative time.

Technical issues also hampered NEXTEV TCR and Trulli, which meant that Nelson Piquet Jr, Oliver Turvey and Jarno Trulli were unable to complete any running.

Testing resumes at Donington on Monday August 17. To apply for tickets, visit www.fiaformulae.com

FIA Formula E Championship – Donington Park – Pre-season testing (Day 2) – Results:

1. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, 1:31.050s
2. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +0.419s
3. Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, +0.487s
4. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +0.491s
5. Nicolas Prost, Renault e.dams, +0.542s
6. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +0.819s
7. Loic Duval, DRAGON RACING, +0.865s
8. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +0.951s
9. Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing, +0.983s
10. Tom Dillmann, Team Aguri, +1.319s
11. Jerome D'Ambrosio, DRAGON RACING, +3.905s
12. Jacques Villeneuve, Venturi, +5.865s
13. Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, no time set
14. Jarno Trulli, Trulli, no time set
15. Simona de Silvestro, Andretti, no time set
16. Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR, no time set

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About FIA Formula E Championship:

Formula E is a ground-breaking FIA championship and the world’s first fully-electric racing series. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry, serving as a framework for research and development around the electric vehicle, accelerating general interest in these cars and promoting sustainability. The first season began in Beijing in September 2014 and completed in London in June 2015, racing in 10 major cities (11 races) around the world. The championship sees 10 teams, each with two drivers, going head-to-head to create a unique and exciting racing series designed to appeal to a new generation of motorsport fans. Season two gets underway in October in Beijing where the series becomes an ‘open championship’ allowing approved manufacturers to develop new powertrain solutions. Future seasons will see the regulations open up further allowing manufacturers to focus on improving battery technology.

About FIA & Michelin - Today’s partners for tomorrow’s mobility:

As well as being the official Formula E tyre supplier, Michelin is an official partner, at the international level, of the FIA Action for Road Safety campaign. This programme is designed to support the Decade of Action for Road Safety initiated by the UN, the aim of which is to save five million lives over the next 10 years. This programme is set up to educate and advocate for safer roads, vehicles and behaviours around the globe.

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