Despite last Tuesday’s fire having severely disrupted Formula E’s official pre-season test, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team still decided to use rookie Gabriela Jílková, who became the first woman to drive a Gen3 car.

Following the battery fire in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage, it was decided by Formula E that each team no longer had to use a rookie driver for three hours. For many who travelled to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, it meant they didn’t complete a single lap; however, Jílková was still given her opportunity to drive the Porsche 99X Electric.

The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic is an ADAC Prototype Cup LMP3 race winner but has competed in various GT4 championships throughout her career. She’s also been supporting Porsche’s Formula E efforts in the simulator.

She’s completed a significant amount of work in the simulator for the Stuttgart-based team, who were eager to reward her with an opportunity to test the actual car for her efforts. Giving Jílková the chance to drive the actual car will also support her simulator work, now that she knows “how the car feels” in real-life.

Porsche fielded Jílková in António Félix da Costa’s car last Thursday afternoon, where she completed 43 laps of the Spanish circuit on what was her debut in the all-electric series.

Reflecting on the laps she completed during the test, Jílková hailed Porsche’s car as “very special”, whilst she revealed that she got to a point where it was possible to “push to the limit”.

“I’m very happy that I got the chance at this test to drive the Formula E car on the racetrack for the first time,” Jílková said. “The Porsche 99X Electric is truly a very special car. It was an incredibly fascinating experience for me to get a better understanding of the car lap by lap and to push to the limit.”

Porsche received a lot of praise for not letting the fire disrupt their plan to give Jílková time behind the wheel of their Gen3 challenger. The German manufacturer were one of only a few teams to still use a rookie driver, as several other sides decided against using a rookie when it was confirmed that it was no longer a mandatory requirement.

Team Principal Florian Modlinger spoke highly of Jílková after the test and explained how beneficial it is that she now knows how the car feels both in the simulator and in real-life. This will only strengthen her future work for the outfit.

“Despite the reduced time in Valencia, we decided to go ahead with a rookie session and give Gabriela the opportunity to drive the Porsche 99X Electric on the racetrack for the first time,” Modlinger said. “She got a good idea of how the car feels compared to the simulator where she’d supported us.”

Robin Frijns has “high hopes” for season 10 after performing well in pre-season testing last week, whilst he even won a mock-race.

Last week’s official Formula E test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia marked the start of Frijns’ return to Envision Racing, having initially left the side at the conclusion of season eight to join the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team.

It certainly hasn’t taken the Dutchman long to settle back into the Silverstone-based squad, as he was a regular amongst the leading places in each session. Frijns was one of 19 drivers to lap quicker than Maximilian Günther did in testing ahead of season nine, which the German topped.

Frijns was often at the back in the most recent campaign and is clearly hungry to return to the front, something he proved by winning the ‘race sim’. Last Friday morning, a mock-race took place to trial how the reintroduction of pit-stops would affect the racing, whilst Safety Cars and full-course yellows also featured.

The 32-year-old claimed the win ahead of António Félix da Costa. In the regular sessions, Frijns finished fourth on the timesheets on both Thursday and Friday, with him clearly having required no time at all to adjust to the superior Jaguar powertrain. Frijns used Mahindra’s lacklustre powertrain last season, as ABT CUPRA are the Indian manufacturer’s customer side.

One-lap pace isn’t a problem for Frijns, although one concern could potentially be that he was just one of seven regular Formula E drivers not to surpass 200 laps in the test. Frijns’ total number of laps for the week was 198, whereas Envision partner Sébastian Buemi completed 276 – the most of any driver.

Nevertheless, things are looking extremely positive for Frijns ahead of the season 10 opener in January, with the mock-race win having given him and the team a “good feeling”.

“It’s been a pretty good week for us,” Frijns said. “It’s been a hectic one as well, at the beginning, but we’ve now finished a good two days of testing.

“We did the race sim at the beginning of Friday and we won that – it does not mean anything really but it’s still a good feeling and good to travel to Mexico [for the opening race of the season] with this ‘victory’. It gives us a good feeling.

“At the end the pace [of the car] was not bad either, we were always in the top five overall. We are working well within the team so we have high hopes for next season.”

Mitch Evans topped two of the three sessions in Formula E’s official pre-season test in Valencia, which he admitted was “really beneficial” not only for himself but also for Jaguar TCS Racing.

Based on the week of running at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Jaguar appear to still have the best overall package on the grid, whilst the works team in particular looked incredibly strong. Evans was the quickest driver in the opening session on Tuesday morning prior to the fire, before he was fastest again on Thursday when action got back underway.

The Kiwi was then third quickest on Friday, which brought testing to a close. Evans’ 1m 24.474s lap on Tuesday morning was actually the quickest of the week, giving him “further confidence” ahead of the January season-opener in Mexico City.

It was a faultless week for Evans and the entire Coventry-based team, with 457 laps having been completed between Evans and his new partner Nick Cassidy. It was Cassidy who actually topped Friday’s 10-hour session, meaning it was a clean sweep for Jaguar.

Of the 457 laps completed, 247 of them were courtesy of Evans. He collected an incredible amount of data for the team to go over ahead of Mexico City, something which will be crucial given that the 29-year-old is expecting their rivals to try and “close the gap” before racing gets underway.

“The official test here in Valencia has been really beneficial for both myself and the team,” Evans said.

“I topped the first two session times which is promising and gives me further confidence that the Jaguar I-TYPE 6 has strong pace. However, we’re still 78 days away from the first race in Mexico City and we know that other teams will be doing their best to close the gap and make improvements. I’m looking forward to racing again in January.”

Whilst his pace looked exemplary throughout testing, it counts for nothing. Unless something truly bizarre happens, Evans will be in the championship fight for a fourth consecutive season. It’s pivotal that he makes the most of Jaguar’s advantage from the get-go, to save him having to do the chasing later in the season.

This was the case in season nine, as a slow start to the Gen3 era left the New Zealander with an incredible amount to do. To put it into some context, Evans was outside the top-10 in the Drivers’ Championship after five rounds last season.

He needs to be at the front instantly, something both himself and the Jaguar I-TYPE 6 have the ability to do.

Formula E’s only rookie driver for season 10, Jehan Daruvala was pleased with what was a “very productive” test, as he continued to settle into Maserati MSG Racing.

Whilst Daruvala has previously tested for Mahindra Racing in season nine, this week’s official test in Valencia marked his first official run for Maserati, ahead of his spot on the grid for the 2023/24 season.

He competed in every session of the heavily interrupted week, following a sudden battery fire in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage during Tuesday’s lunch break.

In the first session of the test on Tuesday morning, Daruvala set the 13th quickest time, whilst he completed 45 laps overall. The Indian driver improved on his position on Thursday afternoon when testing was finally able to resume, as he ended what became the second day of testing in an impressive ninth spot. 71 laps of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo were completed by him in that session.

The final day saw him return to being the 13th quickest driver, but more importantly, he completed a stellar 128 laps. It meant that his grand total for the “smooth week” was 244 laps of the Spanish venue, which allowed him and the Monte-Carlo-based team to get through “all of the run plans”.

Daruvala enjoying a solid week of testing will do his confidence the world of good, ahead of his official debut in Mexico City in January. He’s already proven just in the test alone that he’s got the pace to get amongst the midfield at the very least, in what is arguably the most competitive championship to make your rookie appearance.

His one-lap pace also looks very strong, as his quickest lap during the week was just over three-tenth slower than Maximilian Günther’s.

The Formula 2 graduate now has just over two months to go through all the collected data, with him having his eyes set on entering the season-opener “in an even stronger position”.

“It’s been a very productive, insightful, and smooth week for me, and in the end, we got through all of the run plans that we wanted to complete,” Daruvala said.

“The test was a very important opportunity for me to get used to the car, to the systems, and the procedures we have, and every lap has been invaluable to improving my own understanding. Now we need to go over the data we collected so we can go to Mexico City in an even stronger position.”

Nyck de Vries was pleased to “get back into a rhythm” during Formula E pre-season testing, following his return to the championship for season 10.

It was a massively compromised week for the Dutchman and everyone at Mahindra Racing, as the side were impacted by the battery fire which took place in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage during the lunch break on Tuesday.

Mahindra sustained “extensive damage” to their trackside operations and had no choice but to move to a new garage. De Vries’ car was also unable to continue in the test following the blaze. This came as a massive disappointment to the side.

However, the Banbury-based squad have been granted additional private testing time to make up for what they lost by only having one car available.

Prior to the fire which saw no on-track action take place on Tuesday afternoon or on Wednesday, De Vries ended the opening session in last place and two seconds off the leading pace. This was no concern to the Dutchman or the team though, considering that it was his first official test session since departing AlphaTauri in Formula 1.

Due to the damage to his car, De Vries wasn’t able to take part in Thursday afternoon’s session, which was the first to take place since the fire. He did take part in the full 10 hours on Friday, as he drove Edoardo Mortara’s car.

De Vries completed an impressive 112 laps of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on the final day, whilst his best lap was good enough for P17. Whilst the position might not sound flattering, he was just under half a second behind Nick Cassidy’s leading time.

Given everything that Mahindra went through in Valencia, the amount of running De Vries completed is hugely impressive. He praised the team for doing a “great job” to at least get Mortara’s car repaired following the fire, so that data gathering was possible.

He revealed that despite being reduced to just one car, the Indian manufacturer successfully completed a “very extensive programme”, giving the outfit plenty to look through ahead of the Mexico City season-opener.

“It was great to get a full day of testing under my belt, having done a half-day on Tuesday,” De Vries said.

“Earlier this week, everything was a little bit compromised, so the team did a great job to get out there and run at least one car properly.

“It was good to get back into a rhythm, to get used to Gen3, we went through a very extensive programme, and I felt like we were learning good things and getting more comfortable with the car so it was a positive day.”

Nick Cassidy set the pace on the final day of Formula E pre-season testing, in what’s been a turbulent and eventful week for everyone at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

Jaguar TCS Racing’s pace is evident, with Cassidy topping Friday having completed a clean sweep for the British manufacturer, as Mitch Evans was quickest on Tuesday morning and on Thursday afternoon.

To make up for the time lost following the battery fire on Tuesday afternoon, the final day was extended to a straight 10-hour session; however, the first hour was used to complete a mock-race. The mock-race saw the drivers enter the pits and remain stationary for the amount of time they would if they were receiving fast-charging, in what was an interesting spectacle.

It was Robin Frijns who won the mock-race, although it was far from an accurate representation of the pecking order. When normal service resumed, it was a Jaguar 1-3 come the end of the session, with just under a tenth of a second separating Cassidy and Evans.

In between the Jaguar duo was Maximilian Günther, who was 0.041s behind Cassidy’s leading time of 1m 24.617s. Ahead of testing this week, Günther had been the fastest driver in three of the last years, although the top spot wasn’t to be ahead of season 10.

Mock-race winner Frijns was fourth quickest, meaning three Jaguar powertrains featured in the top-four. Then came the first of the Porsches, as Pascal Wehrlein completed the top-five. Norman Nato was sixth for Andretti Formula E, ahead of Oliver Rowland and Jake Hughes.

Reigning World Champion Jake Dennis could only manage ninth, with season eight World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne completing the top-10.

Rookie Jehan Daruvala enjoyed another solid day in P13, whilst the returning Nyck de Vries was back in action after missing Thursday’s session. It came at a cost though, as the Dutchman spent the day in Edoardo Mortara’s car, due to his not being able to take part in the session. As a result, Mortara didn’t complete any running on the final day.

To make up for not being able to use both cars due to sustaining damage from the fire, Mahindra Racing have been granted additional private testing time at a venue of their choice. At the back of the field were both ERT Formula E Team drivers. Remarkably, just over seven-tenths of a second separated the 21 drivers.

Just like that, Formula E testing has drawn to a close, with all the cars not set to be seen on track together again until the season-opener in Mexico City. Considering what happened on Tuesday afternoon, Formula E and the FIA did a tremendous job to ensure that testing could resume, with only 30 minutes having technically been lost courtesy of the extended sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Jaguar certainly appear to be the team to beat come Mexico City, with Cassidy having been the quickest at 300kW, whilst Evans’ time at 350kW on Tuesday morning was the quickest of the week.

Mitch Evans was the fastest driver once again as testing finally got back underway on Thursday afternoon, following the conclusion of an investigation into what caused Tuesday’s battery fire.

Thursday afternoon’s extended 4.5 hour session was the first time the drivers had been on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia since the end of the first session of the pre-season test on Tuesday. As a safety precaution, the drivers weren’t allowed to run at 350kW, with only 300kW having been permitted. This meant the quickest lap-time was slower than seen on Tuesday.

This didn’t stop Evans from setting the pace in the session, courtesy of a 1m 24.791s, just over three-tenths slower than he went on Tuesday. Evans only just claimed the top spot, as António Félix da Costa was just 0.023s behind the Kiwi.

It was an impressive time by Da Costa considering he only participated in the final hour of the session, as TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team fielded rookie Gabriela Jilkova. In doing so, she became the first woman to test a Gen3 car. She completed 46 laps for the Stuttgart-based squad.

Behind Evans and Da Costa was Edoardo Mortara, who put in a heroic display to be just over a tenth slower than the leading pace. Considering the 48 hours Mahindra Racing have had, this was a tremendous effort, as a lot of the team’s equipment was damaged in Tuesday’s fire. Because of the damage the side sustained, Nyck de Vries was forced to sit out.

Mortara actually led the bulk of the afternoon, before Evans jumped to the front. Just over two-tenths behind Evans in fourth was Robin Frijns, who is readjusting to life back at Envision Racing very well, it seems. He was closely followed by Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Günther.

The Jaguars and Porsches once again just seemed stronger than the rest, as proven by the fact they each had two cars using their powertrain in the top-five. Seventh was Oliver Rowland, ahead of Norman Nato in eighth. Rookie Jehan Daruvala did well to end the session just 0.358s behind Evans’ time, enough for P9. Nick Cassidy completed the top-10.

Reigning World Champion Jake Dennis could only salvage 12th, in what was his first session of testing after sitting out on Tuesday morning. Well off the pace at the back were both ERT Formula E Team drivers, as Dan Ticktum was 21st with Sérgio Sette Câmara in 22nd.

Action will resume at 08:30 CET (07:30 GMT)for what is now an extended 10-hour session, which will run all the way through to 18:30 CET (17:30 GMT) without a lunch break. This has been scheduled to try and make up for the 7.5 hours which remain lost, as 1.5 hours were made up for in the extended session on Thursday.

Testing will not be extended beyond Friday; however, Mahindra will be granted additional private testing time to make up for what they’ve lost with De Vries’ car not being able to participate in the remainder of the test. It’s already been confirmed by Mahindra that De Vries will share Mortara’s car on Friday.

Mahindra Racing have released a statement confirming that they’ve suffered “extensive damage to our trackside operations”, with only one car to be used when testing resumes at 1pm GMT at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia.

The Banbury-based team’s garage was situated next to WAE’s (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering), where the fire took place. WAE’s garage blaze was caused by a battery which had been extracted from a DS Penske car on Tuesday, which was driven in the morning session by Robert Shwartzman. WAE supplies the Gen3 batteries and fast-chargers.

Due to the blaze, testing was cancelled on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday morning so that an investigation into the incident could take place. Following the conclusion of the investigation by the technical suppliers, testing has been allowed to resume on Thursday afternoon.

Mahindra are believed to be the only outfit impacted by the fire, as they’ve been forced to move garages due to damage to their equipment. It’s Nyck de Vries’ side of the garage which is believed to have been damaged in particular, with only Edoardo Mortara to complete on-track action in the first session since Tuesday morning.

Despite the damage to their equipment, Mahindra Racing Team Principal Frederic Bertrand has praised the Incident Response Team for their quick actions on Tuesday to minimise the extent of the damage. He also praised his side for managing to at least get Mortara’s car ready for action.

“First of all, I would like to extend my thanks to the Incident Response Team,” Bertrand stated. “Although we have sustained extensive damage to our trackside operations, without a doubt their quick actions helped to avoid a much larger incident.

“I would also like to express my gratitude to the FIA, Formula E and to each and every single one of our competitors. The support for Mahindra Racing at this difficult time has been unanimous and is a clear indication to me that we exist and compete as one family within the paddock.

“I am extremely proud of everyone at the Mahindra Racing team. It has taken a huge amount of time, effort, and dedication to get us to a position where we can resume testing with a single car in Valencia this week. Although this comes with some obvious sporting disadvantages, we are all looking forward to resuming our programme.”

Formula E have officially confirmed that pre-season testing at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia will resume on Thursday afternoon at 2pm CET (1pm GMT), as the investigation into Tuesday afternoon’s battery fire has concluded.

The drivers have lost four sessions of testing in total as a result of the investigation into what caused the battery fire on Tuesday, which took place in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage.

WAE are the suppliers of the Gen3 batteries and the fast-chargers, with the company having been investigating at the time of the fire why one of DS Penske’s cars had come to a halt. Rookie Robert Shwartzman – who was driving Stoffel Vandoorne’s car – stopped on circuit during the opening session of testing, resulting in a red flag.

After the car was returned to the pits, the battery was extracted and taken to WAE, where it ignited. In the history of Formula E, it’s the first time that an incident like this has happened, highlighting just how safe the World Championship is.

Testing was ultimately halted so that an investigation could be conducted into the cause of the blaze, resulting in no on-track action on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday or Thursday morning.

Thankfully, the FIA has granted Formula E permission for on-track action to now resume, following the conclusion of their investigation into the fire.

Formula E released a statement which read: “Following the incident that happened on Tuesday and subsequent investigations, the FIA has authorised Formula E pre-season testing to resume today from 2pm CET.

“The investigations and findings provided by the technical suppliers and reviewed by the FIA confirm that it is acceptable for on-track activity to go ahead. Pre-season testing will now continue through Friday. An updated on-track session schedule will be distributed soon.”

This will come as a huge sigh of relief for five drivers, including reigning World Champion Jake Dennis, who were replaced by a rookie driver in the only session of the week so far. Following the cancelled sessions, the mandatory three hours of rookie testing has been dropped.

The returning Nyck de Vries will also not take part in Thursday afternoon’s session and will potentially – but not confirmed – miss Friday as well. Mahindra Racing have been forced to move to a new garage following the fire, which damaged equipment for the Dutchman’s car.

To make up for some of the lost time, Thursday afternoon’s session has been extended to 4.5 hours, rather than the usual three.

Formula E have released an update as to the plan going forwards with pre-season testing, which has been thrown into doubt following a battery fire on the opening day in Valencia.

It’s been confirmed that after the cancellation of Tuesday afternoon and the entirety of Wednesday, track action will also not take place on Thursday morning. However, there is hope that testing can resume tomorrow afternoon at 2pm CET “subject to final confirmation”.

Formula E will make a further announcement on Thursday morning as to whether testing can get back underway in the afternoon and if it can even take place on Friday at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. It is seemingly dependant on the “completion of an investigation” into the cause of one of the Gen3 batteries igniting.

A statement was released on Wednesday evening, which read: “Formula E pre-season testing is preparing to resume from 2pm CET tomorrow, Thursday.

“This is subject to final confirmation at 11am, and will follow completion of an investigation into the incident that happened yesterday. Further updates will follow in due course.”

The unexpected battery fire took place during the lunch break on the opening day of testing (yesterday) in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage. WAE are responsible for all of the Gen3 batteries and fast-chargers, which were trialled on Tuesday.

It was a battery extracted from a DS Penske car – driven by rookie Robert Shwartzman – which ignited, sending shockwaves down the paddock. A drivers’ press conference was taking place at the time but was abruptly halted. Shwartzman had stopped on track during the morning session of Tuesday, with his battery having seemingly been extracted not long after.

Local fire authorities were quickly on the scene to tackle the fire, whilst the entire paddock was evacuated. One WAE was taken to hospital for “precautionary checks” but was thankfully discharged without the need of treatment

The area was cordoned off, with the teams having been informed to collect their things and leave. It was announced on Tuesday evening that no on-track action would take place on Wednesday. Instead, the paddock used it as a bit of a media day.

WAE’s garage has, of course, been damaged by the blaze, as has Mahindra Racing’s. The Banbury-based team have since moved to another garage, although it’s been reported that some of their computers have been damaged.

Mitch Evans topped what remains as the only session of pre-season testing, with his leading time having been almost seven-tenths of a second quicker than what was seen in testing ahead of season nine.