After an extremely hard-fought five-session pre-season test session last week in Valencia, Spain, the Porsche Formula E team feels it is prepared for Season 8 of the championship. That’s good, because season 8 begins in just a month and a half with a double-header in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Over the course of the test, Porsche drivers Andre Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein covered a total of 820 miles between them, which is quite a lot considering each E-Prix is just 45 minutes long.
While the car is mechanically pretty much the same as it was in season 7 last year, the teams have managed to find some pretty significant speed over the last 12 months. Last year’s fastest testing time at the Spanish track would have been just 17th fastest this year, with all teams improving by at least a second, and Porsche’s 99X Electric race car well within that. Both drivers ran within half of a second of each other across the five sessions, and ran their fastest times in the final session of the test. Lotterer’s best time was a 1:26.419, while Wehrlein managed a 1:25.895. The Venturi team driver Edoardo Mortara set the fastest time of the week just 0.11 of a second quicker.
One of the key points in the extensive test program was to simulate the new qualifying format for season 8. From now on, the 22 drivers will initially head out onto the track in two groups. They have 220 kW of power available and can turn any number of laps in twelve minutes. The four fastest in each group move into the quarter-finals, with the others allocated the grid spots 9 to 22. From the quarterfinals, drivers pit themselves against each other two at a time in a duel-stage knockout. The winner of Group 1 competes against the fourth in Group 2; the second in Group 1 competes against the third in Group 2, and so on. In the semi-finals and the finals, the drivers have 250 kW at their disposal. The winner of the final session starts from pole position and, as in the past, earns three championship points.
Amiel Lindesay (Head of Operations Formula E): “This test served as a dress rehearsal for the first race in Diriyah. This is the third time we’ve prepared for the start of the season in Valencia and the team is pleased to be back at the racetrack. Everything ran smoothly. We managed to build on the progress we made last season and tick off our test programme as planned. This included a simulation of the new qualifying format. We welcome this new regulation. It’s fairer and ensures that ultimately the fastest driver starts from pole position. We’re taking a mountain of data and new insights home with us from Valencia, which we’ll analyse closely. Then the new season can begin. The team, drivers and the Porsche 99X Electric are ready. We’ll line up on the grid in Saudia Arabia very well prepared.”
André Lotterer (Porsche 99X Electric #36): “It was a good test. For us drivers and the team, it was really important to finally return to a real racetrack after our time in the simulator. This was our one and only chance to test before the season kicks off in Diriyah, which made every kilometre in Valencia all the more important. I see the new qualifying and race formats as a positive step. They make Formula E even more interesting for the fans. With our engineers, we’ve made some improvements in the software and the setup for season 8. We’ve now managed to test these extensively on the racetrack. It confirmed that we’re on the right track.”
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche 99X Electric #94): “I enjoyed being back in the car after the long break. For season 8, we expect several innovations in both the qualifying and the race. It was good that we got the chance to practice here. I think the changes definitely make sense. They’re much simpler and clearer for the drivers and the spectators. We had an extensive test programme to get through in Valencia and, in the process, we collected a lot of data. We’ll now take a good look at that information over the next few weeks, draw the right conclusions and make our car even faster before the first race. We’re ready for Diriyah.”