DS Penske are perhaps the team to beat looking ahead to the season opener of Season Nine and Gen3 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, after the newly-signed reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne enjoyed a solid week of testing at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia.
All the teams were thankfully greeted by sunny skies for three out of four days at the official pre-season test in Valencia, as the Gen3 challengers were put to work. Both Vandoorne and Vergne were towards the top of the timesheets in every completed session all week, with the DS Automobiles powertrain having liked very much like the package to have.
The early signs point to this with Maserati MSG Racing having also had Maximilian Günther and Edoardo Mortara in the top five almost all week; Maserati too are using DS powertains. It was a common sight to see all four DS powered cars in the top six during the week, signalling that they’ve made the best start with their Gen3 package.
Eugenio Franzetti, director of DS Performance, hailed the week of testing as “intense” and that the data gathered shows that Gen3 is set to be “very closely-fought” throughout the field.
“After having worked very hard on the development of the DS E-TENSE FE23, the Valencia tests have finally taken place. There, it was possible for us all to come together and to begin to understand the performance of our competitors. It was an intense week that gave us some very positive signs but also showed us that the level of competition will be extremely high and that Season 9 is set to be very closely-fought!”