Formula E test in Valencia 2025: Pascal Wehrlein sets best time in 1st session, Barnard causes red flag

Pascal Wehrlein won the first session of the pre-season test in Valencia with a time of 1:21.714 minutes. The Porsche driver was in the lead for much of the session. Mahindra also had a good day: Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara were 2nd and 4th in the timesheets at the end of the day. The top 5 was completed by Jake Dennis in 3rd place and world champion Oliver Rowland in 5th .

The first three-hour test session of the 2025/26 Formula E World Championship began punctually at 2pm (CET) in Valencia. A number of cars promptly set off, including reigning world champion Oliver Rowland, who set a time of 1:25.208 minutes within the first quarter of an hour. This time was only around 0.7 seconds off the track record set by Mitch Evans in 2023.

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- Tobias Wirtz (@tobiw_apex) October 27, 2025

Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein beat Rowland's best time a few minutes later and took the lead with a lap time of 1:22.586 minutes - a new track record. At the end of the first hour, Jake Dennis followed suit with a time of 1:22.309 minutes and formed the top five with Wehrlein, Jean-Eric Vergne, Evans and Nico Müller.

1st red flag caused by Barnard

Just after an hour, Taylor Barnard brought out the first red flag of the session. His DS Penske came to a halt in turn 12 and had to be brought back to the paddock on a tow truck.

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- Tobias Wirtz (@tobiw_apex) October 27, 2025

A few minutes later, however, the race resumed. With a time of 1:22.149 minutes, Wehrlein was once again at the top of the standings. At the end of the second hour, Wehrlein, Mortara, Dennis, da Costa and Cassidy made up the top five.

Shortly after the start of the third hour of the test session, Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries took the lead with a time of 1:21.933 minutes. This made him the first rider to set a time under 1:22 minutes. This was followed by a few shifts in the field. Initially, however, no one was able to match de Vries' time before Wehrlein followed suit again and took the lead once more with a time of 1:21.714 minutes.

Nobody beat this time again until the end of the session. Wehrlein, de Vries, Dennis, Mortara and Rowland made up the top five at the end of the first day of testing. The next test session will take place tomorrow morning from 9am to 12pm (CET). You can of course follow it again in the e-Formula.news live ticker.