Valencia E-Prix: Gunther sets the pace in practice for BMW

The young German also set the pace in the two most recent Formula E pre-season tests at the venue, albeit on alternative layouts, and led the combined practice times with a 1m26.958s effort.

Ahead of the championship making its debut on a permanent track, deleted laps from track limits violations were frequent as in-session tyre changes made a comeback due to Michelin reverting to the six-set allocation per car as used for last season.

This returns only for a one-off due to the higher average speeds increasing corner loads on cars.

Teammates also followed in each other’s slipstream during the opening of both the 45-minute dawn and later 30-minute sessions at a circuit where energy management will be critical.

Gunther opted early for his full power lap to post his unmatched effort, surviving the later runs of his rivals to end the session on top by just 0.012s as the leading 22 drivers were split by only 0.8s.

Mahindra Racing driver Alex Lynn nipped into second place in the dying moments to depose Mercedes rival and Saudi Arabia race one winner Nyck de Vries as runner-up.

Reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa, aboard his DS Techeetah car, led the Nissan e.dams machine of Oliver Rowland in fourth and fifth places.

Running in Spain marked the first round of the 2021 season not to have practice marred by enormous shunts, with Venturi Racing driver Edoardo Mortara taken to hospital after his brake-by-wire failure in Saudi then followed by the practice start-line grid pile-up instigated by Oliver Turvey in Rome.

Although in reaction to the collision in the Italian capital, the FIA did introduce a yellow flag at the final corner after the chequered flag of the session to warn drivers that their rivals would be stationary on the grid ahead of the practice start procedure.

Lock-ups under braking into the final Turns 13 to 15 chicane were commonplace but the only real errors occurred for Lucas di Grassi, who took a trip through the gravel, Gunther doing similar and Robin Frijns spinning backward at Turn 1 to bring a brief yellow flag.

Rome race two victor Stoffel Vandoorne, who ended up 11th in the combined times, did notably complain of uneven brake temperatures which forced his Mercedes to tug in different directions while slowing.

Audi racer and triple DTM champion Rene Rast held off NIO 333 driver Tom Blomqvist as Sebastien Buemi, Andre Lotterer and Norman Nato completed the top 10.

In the cooler and slower morning session, da Costa had gone fastest with his 1m27.238s effort to run 0.187s clear of Gunther as the top 19 were split by a second.

FP2 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	28	Maximilian Gunther	Andretti Autosport	1'26.958
2	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra Racing	1'26.970	0.012
3	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1'26.989	0.031
4	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	Techeetah	1'27.041	0.083
5	22	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	1'27.064	0.106
6	33	René Rast	Team Abt	1'27.107	0.149
7	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO Formula E Team	1'27.122	0.164
8	23	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	1'27.142	0.184
9	36	Andre Lotterer	Porsche Team	1'27.150	0.192
10	71	Norman Nato	Venturi	1'27.171	0.213
11	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1'27.201	0.243
12	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport	1'27.226	0.268
13	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	1'27.237	0.279
14	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	1'27.296	0.338
15	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	1'27.408	0.450
16	11	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	1'27.555	0.597
17	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1'27.588	0.630
18	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	1'27.597	0.639
19	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1'27.600	0.642
20	7	Sergio Sette Camara	Dragon Racing	1'27.672	0.714
21	6	Nico Müller	Dragon Racing	1'27.756	0.798
22	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing	1'28.131	1.173
23	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	1'28.146	1.188
24	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin Racing	1'28.438	1.480
View full results

FP1 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	Techeetah	1'27.238
2	28	Maximilian Gunther	Andretti Autosport	1'27.425	0.187
3	22	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	1'27.460	0.222
4	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	1'27.475	0.237
5	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1'27.525	0.287
6	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	1'27.539	0.301
7	23	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	1'27.574	0.336
8	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1'27.732	0.494
9	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport	1'27.809	0.571
10	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1'27.833	0.595
11	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra Racing	1'27.912	0.674
12	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	1'27.939	0.701
13	7	Sergio Sette Camara	Dragon Racing	1'27.952	0.714
14	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin Racing	1'28.029	0.791
15	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	1'28.055	0.817
16	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	1'28.114	0.876
17	6	Nico Müller	Dragon Racing	1'28.149	0.911
18	33	René Rast	Team Abt	1'28.189	0.951
19	71	Norman Nato	Venturi	1'28.240	1.002
20	36	Andre Lotterer	Porsche Team	1'28.259	1.021
21	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1'28.297	1.059
22	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing	1'28.444	1.206
23	11	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	1'28.527	1.289
24	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO Formula E Team	1'29.508	2.270
View full results