Pascal Wehrlein set the pace in the opening session of Formula E’s pre-season test in Valencia, clocking a best time of 1:21.714 for Porsche to lead the field as the new season got underway.
There was one red flag that interrupted the afternoon session when Taylor Barnard went off at Turn 12 and into the gravel. His car was recovered and returned to the pits, allowing running to resume in the final 30 minutes of the session.
Sébastien Buemi endured a difficult start to his day, missing the first hour of running due to a braking issue, though he was able to get out on track with more than half the session remaining.
Early on, lap times were traded between Wehrlein and Jake Dennis, with Wehrlein leading at the halfway stage on a 1:22.149 to Dennis’s 1:22.309. Edoardo Mortara briefly lifted Mahindra into contention, setting a 1:22.169 to go second at the midpoint after both Mahindra cars completed limited running in the opening hour.
In the final hour, Nyck de Vries took Mahindra to the top with a 1:21.933, but Wehrlein responded late on to reclaim P1 with his session-best time of 1:21.714.
Jake Dennis completed the top three for Andretti on a 1:21.985, just ahead of Mortara in fourth 1:22.003 and Oliver Rowland in fifth 1:22.058.
Antonio Félix da Costa matched Rowland’s time for sixth, followed by Maximilian Günther 1:22.194, Mitch Evans 1:22.227, Jean-Éric Vergne 1:22.379, and Nick Cassidy, rounding out the top ten for Citroën with a 1:22.380 — just 0.001s separating the two Citroën drivers.
Behind them, Buemi was 11th, ahead of Nico Müller in the second Porsche. Lucas di Grassi placed 13th, followed by Norman Nato in 14th and Taylor Barnard in 15th after his earlier off. Zane Maloney was 16th, Joel Eriksson 17th, Dan Ticktum 18th, rookie Felipe Drugovich 19th for Andretti, and fellow rookie Pepe Martí 20th for Kiro.
Testing continues tomorrow with the second session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo at 9 am local time.
Follow our live coverage of pre-season testing on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/hrn9Cssy_Js
