Aguri nears Formula E driver decision

Team Aguri will field its 2015-'16 Formula E driver lineup at next week's final pre-season test at Donington Park, with four drivers vying for the second seat.

Salvador Duran, who took part in eight of the nine rounds for the team last year, is expected to be named one of its drivers and there is an additional quartet in contention to be his teammate.

Team boss Mark Preston confirmed the drivers who have tested its Spark SRT_01Es in the opening two tests at Donington – Duran, Nicolas Lapierre, Tom Dillmann and Nathanael Berthon – were all being considered.

"We'll have our drivers confirmed next week," he told AUTOSPORT. "Maybe we'll have a surprise."

Asked if ex-Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa, who took part in some private testing with the team, was also an option, Preston added: "he is on the list."

Frenchman Lapierre, who is third in the World Endurance Championship's LMP2 standings, said he enjoyed his first experience of a Formula E car and was keen to be a part of the team's line-up.

"I hope soon," he said when asked when a decision would be made. "After this one there is only two days of testing. We'll see when we discuss with the team.

"It was a nice test, a last-minute opportunity and I was keen on discovering this car. It was important to get a lot of mileage. It's quite different to anything else I've ever driven. It took a bit of time to get used, it's a tricky car to drive."

2015-'16 FORMULA E LINEUP SO FAR:

Renault e.dams (Renault Z.E.15)
Sebastien Buemi*, Nicolas Prost*

Dragon Racing (Venturi VM200-FE-01)
Jerome d'Ambrosio, Loic Duval*

Abt Audi Sport (Abt Schaeffler FE01)
Lucas di Grassi, Daniel Abt

Team China Racing (NEXTEV TCR FormulaE 001)
Nelson Piquet Jr, tba

DS Virgin Racing (Virgin DSV-01)
Sam Bird, Jean-Eric Vergne

Andretti Autosport (Andretti ATEC-01)
Simona de Silvestro, tba

Team Aguri (SRT_01E)
tba, tba

Mahindra Racing (Mahindra M2ELECTRO)
Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna

Venturi (Venturi VM200-FE-01)
Stephane Sarrazin, Jacques Villeneuve

Trulli (Motomatica JT-01)
tba, tba

* Awaits official confirmation

Originally on Autosport.com