Bethonie WaringMaximilian Gunther tops the times in the final day of preseason testing ahead of Season 7 of the Formula E championship.
Dragon duo Sergio Sette Camara and Nico Muller and reigning champion Antonio Felix Da Costa all ended the day within a tenth of a second of Gunther’s best time, promising a close field when the season get’s underway next year.
Most of the field tested qualifying runs over the course of the day, with warm weather giving the best conditions of the three day event. However, pushing the limits meant a number of drivers exceeded the track limits imposed at turns 1, 6, and 10. New rules put in place meant those who repeatedly exceeded track limits had to serve a 15 minute penalty in the pits.
Camara was one of a number of drivers who received the penalty, but this didn’t keep him from putting in laps at the top of the timings in the closing stages of the session.
The Dragon driver was denied the top spot with a late lap from Gunther, who managed a 1m11.760s to end the final Formula E session of 2020.
Yet to be confirmed for the 2020-21 season, Muller ended the day third ahead of Da Costa and Mitch Evans.
Pascal Wehrlein, Oliver Rowland, and Jean-Eric Vergne also managed to set times sub 1m12s, with Vergne’s fastest lap just 0.218s off Gunther’s.
Oliver Turvey put in another strong drive at NIO to go ninth, while early pace setter Norman Nato completed the top 10.
Neither Audi driver made it into the top 10. Rene Rast was the quicker of the pair and placed 20th overall.
Also missing from the top 10 was Stoffel Vandoorne, who ended testing P18, but still ahead of team-mate Nyck de Vries. Vandoorne is believed to be one of the drivers in contention to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the Sakhir Grand Prix this weekend.
