Testing report

Formula E Donington August testing

Abt leads rain-affected third Formula E test day

Daniel Abt and his Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport squad headed the final day of the opening public Formula E test at Donington Park, as rain curtailed the afternoon's running.

Jamie Klein

Published: Aug 25, 2016, 4:09 PM

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Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport

The day began with a slightly damp track, an off DS Virgin's Jose Maria Lopez causing an early red flag, but times quickly dropped throughout the morning as conditions improved.

Dragon's Jerome d'Ambrosio was the first to get within a second of Wednesday's lap record pace, setting a best time of 1m30.553s with just over half an hour remaining of the morning session, although the Mahindra of Nick Heidfeld went fastest some minutes later on a 1m30.095s.

Soon after, it was Abt's turn to take over the top slot on a 1m30.073s, which he maintained to the end of the session as Nicolas Prost beached his Renault e.dams machine the gravel at Coppice with five minutes left on the clock, bringing out the red flags.

Showers during the lunch break left the track damp for much of the afternoon session, but the closing half-hour saw improvements as conditions improved.

Wednesday pacesetter Jean-Eric Vergne (Techeetah) topped the session on a 1m30.234s, good for third overall behind Abt and Heidfeld.

Prost, Lucas di Grassi (Abt), Jerome d'Ambrosio (Dragon) and Antonio Felix da Costa (Andretti) filled out fourth to seventh on the strength of their times from the morning, while a last-minute effort from Venturi's Maro Engel put him second in the afternoon and eighth overall.

Reigning champion Sebastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) and Sam Bird (DS Virgin) completed the top 10 with late afternoon improvements.

Adam Carroll was the best of the Jaguar drivers in 13th, 1.648s off the pace, while Harry Tincknell - who is up against Alex Lynn and Mitch Evans for the team's second seat - was 17th, 3.854s behind Abt and one place behind Dean Stoneman in the sole NextEV machine.

Robin Frijns only took part in the first hour of running as he had to travel to Hungary to take part in this weekend's Blancpain Sprint round, and was therefore an unrepresentative 18th in the second Andretti car.

Day 3 times:

Pos.DriverTeamMorningAfternoon 1 Daniel Abt ABT Audi Sport 1'30.073 1'34.332 2 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra 1'30.095 1'33.809 3 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah 1'32.043 1'30.234 4 Nicolas Prost Renault e.dams 1'30.237 1'31.801 5 Lucas di Grassi ABT Audi Sport 1'30.252 1'35.509 6 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon 1'30.553 1'32.912 7 Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti 1'30.769 1'31.419 8 Maro Engel Venturi 1'34.080 1'31.093 9 Sebastien Buemi Renault e.dams 1'33.249 1'31.144 10 Sam Bird DS-Virgin 1'32.379 1'31.177 11 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1'31.317 1'31.221 12 Jose Maria Lopez DS-Virgin 1'32.880 1'31.447 13 Adam Carroll Jaguar 1'33.106 1'31.721 14 Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra 1'32.710 1'33.232 15 Ma Qing Hua Techeetah 1'32.838 1'33.443 16 Dean Stoneman NEXTEV TCR 1'33.389 1'35.188 17 Harry Tincknell Jaguar 1'33.927 1'34.483 18 Robin Frijns Andretti 1'39.067 - 19 Loic Duval Dragon 1'43.990 1'40.114

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