De Vries fastest as Porsche cement early Formula E authority

Nyck de Vries topped the timesheets at the end of the penultimate day of Formula E pre-season testing, whilst Porsche secured a one-two in a mock-race. 

Thursday afternoon’s three hours of running started with a 24-lap mock-race, which faced an initial 10-minute delay after rookie Zane Maloney suffered an issue on the grid. 

His Lola Yamaha ABT was pushed off the grid, with the Barbadian having sat out the entire afternoon. 

Once the mock-race got underway, the factory Porsche outfit cemented some early dominance after securing a one-two. 

Reigning world champion Pascal Wehrlein won the race, ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa. Nick Cassidy finished third. 

Attack charge was used during the race and appeared to work without fault, a key moment in whether the technology is introduced this season. 

Once the race concluded, the session returned to traditional pore-season running, with Season 7 world champion de Vries having put his Mahindra on top. 

The Dutchman went fastest after posting a 1:28.010, three tenths down on the fastest time of the week set by the auditioning David Beckmann earlier in the day. 

Edoardo Mortara completed a Mahindra one-two in second, and found himself 0.166s behind de Vries. Jaguar’s Mitch Evans was third quickest.