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Returning to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for a third consecutive year, Formula E pre-season testing provided a welcome week of intense team time as excitement ramped up ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
Over the course of three days of track action, the next chapter in our motorsport story formally began – a new partnership with Mercedes-Benz, a fresh team identity and a striking new livery all making their debut.
With just those three precious days of running available before Season 6 commences in Diriyah on November 22nd, every lap would be invaluable in the quest for data. During the combined 18 hours of track time we completed 297 laps of the 3.094km-long circuit – equivalent to just under 920km.
With reliability a priority in the early stages, we began our test program by banking consistent laps of the Spanish circuit before targeting lap time later in the week.
Performance peaked on the afternoon of Day 2, when Edo set the third-fastest time in the field of 24 cars – completing the joint fourth-highest number of laps on the day.
Not content with that, Edo pushed to improve his lap time once again on the final morning – shaving off another 0.011s to set his best effort of the week late on.
“We had a few issues in the first days but that’s to be expected and we found some solutions,” said Edo. “We improved the setup and improved the car overall so hopefully we’re going to be ready and competitive for Riyadh.”
Felipe meanwhile deployed his extensive experience early on in the week – putting his knowledge to good use with troubleshooting duties to ensure that the team is in the best possible position on the opening race weekend of Season 6.
And the Brazilian veteran showed a good turn of speed too – bettering Edo’s time to end pre-season with the 12th fastest lap, within half a second of the ultimate pace.
“I would say from the first day to the last day, we definitely improved a lot,” said Felipe. “We identified some problems and have fixed many of them already. We have some good ideas on how to optimise everything for the first race too.
“It was great to be back in the car and I can’t wait to start the season. I really hope that with a more competitive car and with myself having a little bit more experience in Formula E, we can do better [than Season 5]. I’m looking forward to it!”
Having gained critical data from a number of qualifying and race simulations at our team HQ in Monaco, we head to Diriyah as prepared as we can be for what is set to be Formula E’s most competitive season to date.
Let battle commence…
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