Vandoorne quickest on second day of Formula E testing

Lap times tumbled in the second afternoon of running at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo as Vandoorne edged out season seven runner-up Edoardo Mortara to head the order, with the Venturi racer ending up just 0.044s shy. 

Jake Dennis went fastest with an hour to go but was ultimately shuffled down to third in his Avalanche Andretti as both Vandoorne and Mortara found late improvements. 

Reigning Formula E champion Nyck de Vries was 0.114s down on his Mercedes teammate in fourth, while Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the top five for Porsche.

Next up came Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and new Venturi recruit Lucas di Grassi in sixth and seventh. 

Following his switch to Mahindra, Oliver Rowland outpaced new teammate Alexander Sims to end the second day with the eighth-quickest time. 

Andre Lotterer ensured both Porsche cars finished inside the top 10, while Avalanche Andretti’s Oliver Askew was once again the fastest of Formula E’s rookie contingent. 

The American was just 0.081s adrift of a top-10 placing as he continues to get to grips with Formula E following his switch from IndyCar. 

Antonio Giovinazzi was the next fastest rookie in 17th for Dragon-Penske as the outgoing Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver got within a second of Vandoorne’s benchmark. 

NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum ended up 19th in the afternoon order, ahead of the Techeetah duo of Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa, who were split by Alice Powell. 

The 2021 W Series runner-up was getting some seat time in Robin Frijns’s Envision car after the Dutchman topped the opening day of running on Monday. 

Da Costa sets morning pace, de Vries wins mock race 

Da Costa set the pace in the shortened morning session, which followed a race simulation to trial the new extra time regulations for the upcoming 2022 season. 

For every minute spent behind the safety car or under a full course yellow in races next season, 45 seconds will be added to the standard race time of 45 minutes + one lap. 

De Vries ‘won’ the mock race on Tuesday morning after passing Mercedes stablemate Vandoorne with a lap to go. 

Mortara also got past Vandoorne at the end to take second, while Grassi followed the Mercedes driver home in fourth. 

2015/2016 champion Sebastien Buemi completed the top five following a late pass on Nissan teammate Maximilian Gunther. 

Jaguar pair Sam Bird and Evans both failed to get off the line at the start, but were able to reset their cars and finish the race simulation. 

Following a break from track action on Wednesday, the third and final day of testing at Valencia continues on Thursday.