Day two of Formula E testing postponed after garage fire

A small explosion, believed to be from a battery, took place in the pit box of battery supplier WAE (formerly known as Williams Advanced Engineering) just before 1pm local time on Tuesday. 

Team personnel were swiftly evacuated as the area was cordoned off at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo with Formula E confirming that the “on-track Incident Response Team acted immediately to contain the incident”. 

It added that "one person has been assessed by medics and has been transported to hospital for precautionary checks". 

The three-hour afternoon session on Tuesday was subsequently cancelled to “allow for the area to return to safe working conditions” with the remainder of this week’s test put in doubt. 

Organisers of the all-electric championship confirmed on Tuesday evening that the two three-hour sessions originally scheduled for Wednesday would not be taking place. 

Instead, the media day originally slated to take place on Thursday has been brought forward to Wednesday with the hope that track action can resume the next day. 

A statement from Formula E said: “In response to an incident earlier today at Formula E pre-season testing in Valencia when a fire caused damage to a garage in the pit lane, on-track testing activity will not go ahead tomorrow, Wednesday.  

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Smoke from the pit lane causes an evacuation

“Damage from the incident was contained following the activation of emergency procedures. One person was taken to hospital as a precaution but released without treatment.  

“An investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, but has already identified an issue which Is being addressed. The investigation and further safety assessments will be completed, and we aim to resume on-track activities from Thursday, subject to final confirmation tomorrow.”