Formula E in Madrid: Wehrlein wins test race with Attack Charge, Beckmann sets best time of the day

Pascal Wehrlein is the first "race winner" of the Gen3 Evo era. The reigning world champion drove to a one-two Porsche victory in the demo race on early Thursday afternoon in a photo finish with team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa. In the subsequent test session, Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries was the fastest, but David Beckmann had already set the fastest time of the day in the morning.

Thursday's morning session - the fourth of seven in total - began with a best time from Pascal Wehrlein. The world champion was more than eight tenths of a second faster than the competition in the first hour. It was only after almost exactly 60 minutes that another driver took the lead in the person of Oliver Rowland.

While the two were battling for first place within a few thousandths of a second, the two Envision drivers Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns were initially unable to drive as planned, but eventually also set their first lap times. In the meantime, the two Maserati drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and - after exactly two hours - Jake Hughes took the lead.

Lap times continued to fall in the final third of the morning - already well below Max Günther's best time from Tuesday (1:28.408 minutes). First Antonio Felix da Costa climbed to the top, then team-mate Wehrlein again. As if Porsche's presence at the front wasn't enough, David Beckmann also set a new best time in the neon-yellow Kiro just under half an hour before the end of the session. And so it remained: German youngster Beckmann won the morning session ahead of Wehrlein, Felix da Costa, Günther and Hughes.

Wehrlein wins test race

The afternoon session began with a demo race including Attack Charge pit stops. However, the start scheduled for 2 p.m. had to be postponed - rookie Zane Maloney in the Lola Yamaha ABT was unable to get off the dummy grid due to a technical problem. The car was pushed off the grid and a start behind the safety car followed.

Lola ABT Yamaha is really pushing in the test race.#FormulaE #FormulaE #ABBFormulaE #FEtesting pic.twitter.com/qRsBd7b0oq

- ⚡️ e-Formula.news (@eFORMULAnews) November 7, 2024

The cars drove in the order in which they had left the pits, which corresponded to the order of the team classification from the previous season. Both Jaguar drivers led ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Antonio Felix da Costa, Pascal Wehrlein and Max Günther.

The pit stops began shortly before the halfway point of the race. All drivers had to carry out one Attack Charge for 30 seconds. Nico Müller fell short of the pit stop time and Dan Ticktum was too fast in the pit lane. Apart from that, there were no problems.

Attack Charge is alive! ⚡️#FormulaE #ABBFormulaE #FEtesting pic.twitter.com/O3ZVy1sF4q

- ⚡️ e-Formula.news (@eFORMULAnews) November 7, 2024

After the stops, Vergne led ahead of Jake Dennis and Günther. The positions shifted as a result of the Attack Mode activations: Wehrlein briefly took the lead, but was overtaken by Rowland shortly afterwards. A simulated safety car period ensured that the field was pushed back together for the final sprint.

However, this took place without Rowland - the Nissan driver went into the pits and ended the race simulation prematurely. The same applied to the two McLaren drivers. Nato had also returned to the garage during the safety car phase. The finale therefore took place without any Nissan cars at all.

At the start of the final lap, Vergne also pitted, paving the way for a Porsche one-two victory. Cassidy finished third ahead of Dennis and Evans. A result that could theoretically also be seen in a "normal" race.

De Vries fastest in the afternoon, Maloney must skip

The test session then continued as normal, but as all the cars had to be recharged, the track remained empty for more than 45 minutes. Zane Maloney, on the other hand, was already spotted in his everyday clothes - the rookie's Lola Yamaha ABT was probably struggling with major problems. Antonio Felix da Costa initially moved into the lead, but was edged out by de Vries with 30 minutes to go. Mortara was second - a 1-2 for Mahindra.

The Mahindra duo was blown apart by Mitch Evans ten minutes before the end. Mortara reclaimed second place, but skipped the chicane, meaning that race control had to cancel his lap time. Lucas di Grassi moved up to fifth place shortly before the end, but he was unable to beat de Vries' lap time.

The action will continue in Madrid on Friday morning. Two more sessions are scheduled at 9 am and 2 pm - in the afternoon in the form of the women's test. e-Formula.news will also be reporting live from the Circuito del Jarama on the final day of testing.

Results & lap times