Testing report
Formula E Beijing ePrix
Beijing ePrix: Prost heads Buemi in Friday test as Renault dominates
The Renault e.DAMS team dominated the first collective session of the second season of the FIA Formula E Championship at Beijing.
Sam Smith
Edited: Oct 23, 2015, 5:17 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Nicolas Prost headed the closest non-Renault powered car by a massive 2.114s during the 30-minute session.
The Frenchman’s 1m37.291s, set on his final lap, was almost eight seconds quicker than last year’s official race lap record set by Takuma Sato.
The time was also four seconds faster than last year’s pole lap, which was, however, set on a track which featured one more chicane.
The other DAMS driver Sebastien Buemi was 0.631s adrift of his teammate in second place, while Jean-Eric Vergne took his DS Virgin car to third on a 1m39.405s.
The Renault e.DAMS squad also completed the most laps of any team with a combined total of 28 tours of the 3.439-kilometre Beijing circuit.
The pair of Mahindra Racing cars of Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld placed fourth and fifth respectively in the new Mahindra M2ELECTRO entries.
Reigning champions NEXTEV had a mixed session with Oliver Turvey rounding out the top six in, but teammate and reigning champion Nelson Piquet causing a red flag midway through the session when he stopped his car at Turn 10 with a mechanical problem.
Other incidents that occurred during the half an hour included several trips down the escape roads at Turns 4 and 5, with Piquet and Nathanael Berthon locking their brakes in spectacular fashion.
All bar the Trulli Formula E drivers registered times this afternoon. The Italian team has been delayed in completing their cars after apparent customs hold-ups in getting parts for their new Motomatica JT-01 to be put together ahead of the mandatory technical checks.
Their participation in the meeting is understood to be in grave doubt and an official FIA bulletin on the situation is expected later today.
Practice, qualifying and the Beijing ePrix itself all take place on Saturday.
Pos. Driver Team Time Delay 1 
Nicolas Prost Renault e.Dams 1'37.291 2 
Sebastien Buemi Renault e.Dams 1'37.912 0.621 3 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Virgin 1'39.405 2.114 4 
Bruno Senna Mahindra 1'39.670 2.379 5 
Nick Heidfeld Mahindra 1'39.909 2.618 6 
Oliver Turvey NEXTEV TCR 1'40.148 2.857 7 
Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon 1'40.410 3.119 8 Lucas di Grassi ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 1'40.531 3.240 9 Daniel Abt ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 1'40.852 3.561 10 Sam Bird DS Virgin 1'41.146 3.855 11 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1'41.387 4.096 12 
Antonio Felix da Costa Team Aguri 1'41.556 4.265 13 Nelson Piquet NEXTEV TCR 1'41.938 4.647 14 Loic Duval Dragon 1'42.016 4.725 15 
Robin Frijns Andretti 1'42.635 5.344 16 Simona de Silvestro Andretti 1'43.657 6.366 17 Nathanael Berthon Team Aguri 1'45.561 8.27 18 
Jacques Villeneuve Venturi 1'46.425 9.134 
Salvador Duran Trulli No Time 
Vitantonio Liuzzi Trulli No Time
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Leonardo Dicaprio to chair Formula E sustainability committee
Next article Analysis: Where is Mahindra in the pecking order
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Sam Smith
Formula E won't change roadmap for new manufacturers
Formula E
Formula E
Formula E won't change roadmap for new manufacturers
Didier Artzet: The French F1 talent that slipped through the net
Formula 1
Formula 1
Didier Artzet: The French F1 talent that slipped through the net
Formula E teams warn against manufacturer-led "arms race"
Formula E
Formula E
Formula E teams warn against manufacturer-led "arms race"
More from
Sébastien Buemi
Sebastien Buemi questions WEC race control’s VSC/FCY calls
WEC
WEC
Fuji
Sebastien Buemi questions WEC race control’s VSC/FCY calls
Sebastien Buemi not ruling out Formula E comeback: “I don’t want to close any doors”
Formula E
Formula E
Sebastien Buemi not ruling out Formula E comeback: “I don’t want to close any doors”
More from
DAMS
Correa: F2 podium return “surreal” on Hubert anniversary
FIA F2
FIA F2
Barcelona
Correa: F2 podium return “surreal” on Hubert anniversary
Crawford joins DAMS for 2024 F2 season after Red Bull split
FIA F2
FIA F2
Abu Dhabi
Crawford joins DAMS for 2024 F2 season after Red Bull split
Why Iwasa's F1 prospects look better than ever
FIA F2
FIA F2
Why Iwasa's F1 prospects look better than ever
Latest news
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
35 min
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
1 h
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 h
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe