Maloney tops Valencia group test

Seven teams tested at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia yesterday with Nissan’s Zane Maloney achieving the fastest time of the day with the new Nissan e-F4orce 06 GEN4 car.

Nissan were joined ta the FETAMA organised test by its customer team Andretti, Jaguar TCS Racing, Paysafe Envision, CUPRA Kiro, Citroen and Opel

Maloney set a 1m11.950s lap in the afternoon on a circuit that was similar to the one used in last season’s pre-season test but without the chicane on the pit straight. This ensured that times were much quicker than last year’s peak, which was set by Edoardo Mortara for Mahindra on a 1m21.493s.

That was 9.543s slower than Maloney’s best, and with the chicane time estimated to be around three seconds, it suggests that the GEN4 is already around 6.5s quicker than the GEN3Evo used last season.

Maloney was 0.84s quicker than new Paysafe Envision driver Maximilian Guenther, who has joined from DS Penske. Guenther has driven the Jaguar GEN4 test and development car on several occasions in the last few months.

Just 0.060s in arrears to Guenther was Formula E returnee Jake Hughes in his CUPRA Kiro Porsche 975 RSE machine. Hughes peaked on a 1m12.094s lap despite stopping on track in the morning with an issue which was soon resolved by his team.

The quickest Jaguar was Antonio Felix da Costa, who took the fourth best time, resplendent in its new blue livery, which was unveiled on Monday evening in London.

Felipe Drugovich was fifth in his Andretti Nissan, with the first Stellantis car, Jean-Eric Vergne’s Citroen, rounding out the top six. The other Citroen of Nick Cassidy lost several hours with a problem that confined him to the pits.

The new Opel team finished seventh (Mitch Evans) and 10^th (Theo Pourchaire), while the second Jaguar TCS Racing entry of Stoffel Vandoorne completed minimal running due to a technical problem on his Jaguar I-Type 08 GEN4 car.

Rookie, Zak O’Sullivan, also lost track time with a problem on his Jaguar, and completed much less laps than the majority of those present.

Mahindra did not attend the test as it is shaking down its race cars at the Croft circuit in Northern England this week.

Porsche elected not to attend this test, while its new customer, Fusion Formula E Team, is testing its cars at Porsche’s Weissach proving ground tomorrow.

Lola and Fortescue Zero ran their race cars this week, with the latter testing at Mallory Park where Dan Ticktum shook down one of their Jaguar I-Type 08s, with the other set to run for the first time at Jarama on Monday with a yet to be named replacement for Taylor Barnard.

Lola confirmed Robert Shwartzman as its first nominated driver, while its second is set to be confirmed tomorrow.

Test Times from Valencia

1.Zane Maloney Nissan 1m11.950s

2. Max Guenther Paysafe Envision 1m12.034s

3.Jake Hughes CUPRA Kiro 1m12.094s

4.Antonio Felix da Costa Jaguar 1m12.110s

5.Felipe Drugovich Andretti 1m12.141s

6.Jean-Eric Vergne Citroen 1m12.272s

7.Mitch Evans Opel 1m12.338s

8. Pepe Marti CUPRA Kiro 1m12.400s

9. Jake Dennis Andretti 1m12.480s

10.Theo Pourchaire Opel 1m12.549s