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Shwartzman tops Berlin FE rookie test for DS Penske
Robert Shwartzman was quickest in Formula E’s rookie test at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, topping both the morning and afternoon sessions for DS Penske.
The Ferrari Formula 1 test and reserve driver lapped the Berlin E-Prix course in 1m 2.150s in the morning, going 0.071s quicker than last year’s rookie pacesetter Felipe Drugovich, who once again turned out for Maserati MSG Racing.
Shwartzman improved to 1m 1.937 in the warmer and quicker afternoon session, beating Andretti driver Jak Crawford with a time that was the only one under the 1m 2s barrier, and just 0.118 shy of Sunday polesitter Jake Dennis’ best time in qualifying. Overall he completed 94 laps throughout the day.
Sheldon van der Linde was third quickest overall for Jaguar TCS Racing, ahead of Drugovich, with Kush Maini completing the top-five for Mahindra in the afternoon, again climbing one place up the order compared to his morning run.at the end of the day.
Enzo Fittipaldi was sixth for Jaguar, ahead of Mercedes F1 junior Frederik Vesti who enjoyed a top four run in the morning for Mahindra, with Zane Maloney (Andretti), Gabriele Mini (Nissan), and Caio Collet (Nissan) completing the overall top 10.
Both of the day’s otherwise uneventful three hour sessions featured a single red flag in each. Dries Vanthoor brought out the first around two and a half hours into the day after crashing his Envision Racing car at Turn 3. He didn’t return to the track for the remainder of the day, but finished the morning session down in 20th, and set the 21st quickest time of the day as a result of his curtailed program.
The second was caused by Drugovich just over half an hour into the afternoon session. It was a brief stoppage, with the team telling RACER that he was instructed to stop to prevent further damage from what was a “wheel issue”. The problem was quickly rectified and he returned to the track. He eventually completed more laps than anybody else across both sessions with 101.
Mini had the most in the morning session, completing 64 laps, with Envision Racing's Alice Powell doing the most in the afternoon with 56.
Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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