2023 Valencia Test

2023 Valencia Test
Valencia would again host the pre-season test for Formula E
Test Information
Date	24 - 27 October 2023
Location	Cheste, Valencia, Spain
Lap length	3.376 km (2.098 mi)
Fastest Lap
Driver	Mitch Evans
Time	Day	Laps
1:24.474	1
Testing Guide
Previous 2023 Rookie Test		Next 2024 Rookie Test

The 2023 Valencia Test was the only pre-season collective public test ahead of the 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, staged at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo between 24 and 27 October 2023. The test would see all twenty-two full time drivers run at the test, alongside a group of rookie drivers, and would see a race simulation staged as further tests of the Attack Charge system were undertaken during the test too.

Mitch Evans would end the three day test as the fastest driver in the field, the New Zealander having recorded a 1:24.474 in the opening morning of the test to top the overall timesheet. However, the test would not run as planned, with the afternoon session on the opening day cancelled as well as the whole of the second day due to a fire in the pitlane, the result of an issue that had initially happened on-track when Robert Shwartzman stopped on circuit.

Fortunately no-one was injured and testing would be reduced from six three hour sessions, across three days, to a three hour session on Tuesday, a 4.5 hour session on Thursday, a 5 hour session on Friday with additional race simulation conducted on the morning of the final day. That race simulation was "won" by Robin Frijns after a late move on António Félix da Costa and featured a full race distance with Attack Mode, Attack Charge and Safety Car interventions all tested to ensure they would be ready for the start of the season in Mexico City.

Background

Entry List

Below is a complete entry list for the full 2023 Valencia Test across each day:

2023 Valencia Test Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car	Sessions
1	Jake Dennis	Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3	2-6
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23	2-6
3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	ERT Formula E Team	ERT	X24	1-3; 5-6
4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6	1-2; 4-6
5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	1; 3-6
7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore	1-2; 4-6
8	Sam Bird	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	2-6
9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6	2-6
11	Lucas di Grassi	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M10Electro	1-3; 5-6
13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3	1-2; 4-6
16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6	1-3; 5-6
17	Norman Nato	Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3	1-3; 5-6
18	Jehan Daruvala	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore	All
21	Nyck de Vries	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M10Electro	1-2; 4-6
22	Oliver Rowland	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	2-6
23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	2-6
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23	1-3; 5-6
33	Dan Ticktum	ERT Formula E Team	ERT	X24	1-2; 4-6
37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6	2-6
48	Edoardo Mortara	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M10Electro	1-3; 5-6
51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M10Electro	1-3; 5-6
94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3	1-3; 5-6
Rookie Drivers*
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car	Sessions
1/17	Zane Maloney	Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3	1; 4
2/26	Robert Shwartzman	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23	1; 4
3/33	Mikel Azcona	ERT Formula E Team	ERT	X24	3-4
4/16	Jack Aitken	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6	3-4
7	Yann Ehrlacher	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore	3
5/8	Taylor Barnard	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	1-2
9/37	Sheldon van der Linde	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6	3-4
11	Tim Tramnitz	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M10Electro	4
13/94	Gabriela Jílková	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3	3-4
21/48	Jordan King	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M10Electro	3-4
22	Luca Ghiotto	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	1
23	Victor Martins	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04	1
51	Adrien Tambay	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M10Electro	4
Source:

• * Teams were required to run at least one rookie driver in one of the six planned sessions.

Day One

It was a clear and sunny day in Valencia, with the temperature sat in the mid-teens and the track a cool 12°C as the field prepared to head onto the circuit. The day was set to be split into two sessions, both lasting three hours, with teams free to use Attack Mode and any run plans as they pleased.

Report

There was no great rush to set times right as the opening session of the week began, with several drivers completing sighting laps to test systems by heading out of the pits and then straight back in. Mahindra Racing would be the first to set times, though, with Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries both completing laps in the first five minutes to top the timesheets, before being supplanted by Jean-Éric Vergne and then Jake Hughes. Those two would spend the first 25 minutes of the session exchanging fastest laps, Vergne settling their private battle with a 1:26.881, before António Félix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein joined the fun, the latter setting the first sub-1:26.000 time of the day shortly before the end of the first hour.

The second hour would see more quick times set, with Nico Müller besting Wehrlein's tume before Vergne went quicker a few moments later. Rookie runner Taylor Barnard would also get a ten minute spell at the top of the times, setting a new benchmark of 1:24 929, before da Costa went fastest again at the end of the second hour, taking the benchmark down to a 1:24.617. By that stage a number of drivers were focusing on race style runs, many drivers completing runs in the mid-teens, before the session was halted by a red flag, caused by Robert Shwartzman, another rookie, stopping on circuit with a battery issue.

After that pause the session would resume without any new outright fast times, until Mitch Evans stormed to a 1:24.474 right as the chequered flag was flown to end the session fastest. Teams would then set about preparing for the afternoon session, although towards the end of the lunch break the pitlane had to be evacuated after a fire broke out in the Williams Advanced Engineering pitbay, where Shwartzman's battery was being evaluated. The fire was quickly extinguished, albeit with damage having been sustained to the WAE pitbox and the adjoining Mahindra Racing pit area, with the FIA, track officials and FE deciding to cancel the rest of the day's running and the following day's running as well. Mahindra would also be forced to only run one car for the rest of the test.

Results

Below is the full result from the first day of the 2023 Valencia Test:

2023 Valencia Test Day One Times
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Time		Gap
					S1	S2
1st	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	46	1:24.474	Cancelled	—
2nd	13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	49	1:24.617	Cancelled	+0.143s
3rd	16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	48	1:24.641	Cancelled	+0.167s
4th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mahindra Racing	41	1:24.701	Cancelled	+0.227s
5th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	45	1:24.754	Cancelled	+0.280s
6th	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati MSG Racing	35	1:24.764	Cancelled	+0.290s
7th	8	Taylor Barnard	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	53	1:24.929	Cancelled	+0.455s
8th	51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra	48	1:25.255	Cancelled	+0.781s
9th	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	ERT Formula E Team	38	1:25.286	Cancelled	+0.812s
10th	37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar TCS Racing	32	1:25.319	Cancelled	+0.845s
11th	17	Norman Nato	Andretti Formula E	39	1:25.322	Cancelled	+0.848s
12th	11	Lucas di Grassi	ABT Cupra	49	1:25.347	Cancelled	+0.873s
13th	18	Jehan Daruvala	Maserati MSG Racing	45	1:25.374	Cancelled	+0.900s
14th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	42	1:25.426	Cancelled	+0.952s
15th	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	41	1:25.461	Cancelled	+0.987s
16th	33	Dan Ticktum	ERT Formula E Team	41	1:25.557	Cancelled	+1.083s
17th	2	Robert Shwartzman	DS Penske	28	1:25.561	Cancelled	+1.087s
18th	5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	52	1:25.668	Cancelled	+1.194s
19th	23	Victor Martins	Nissan Formula E Team	52	1:25.782	Cancelled	+1.308s
20th	22	Luca Ghiotto	Nissan Formula E Team	52	1:25.862	Cancelled	+1.388s
21st	1	Zane Maloney	Andretti Formula E	46	1:26.080	Cancelled	+1.606s
22nd	21	Nyck de Vries	Mahindra Racing	43	1:26.385	Cancelled	+1.911s
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's fastest lap from the entire test day.
• Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Day Two

Results

Below is the full result from the second day of the 2023 Valencia Test:

Day Three

Results

Below is the full result from the third day of the 2023 Valencia Test:

References

Images and Videos:

References: