Sims tops opening day of Formula E pre-season testing

Alexander Sims topped the opening day of collective pre-season Formula E testing in Valencia for BMW, edging out DS Techeetah's Andre Lotterer by one-tenth of a second as the new Gen2 cars enjoyed their first extensive running.

Season 5 Formula E rookie Sims set the pace through the morning session before shaving one-hundredth of a second off his time in the afternoon, eventually finishing the day with a quickest lap of 1m17.553s.

Sims will make his Formula E debut in Saudi Arabia later this year with BMW, with the Andretti-run operation enjoying a strong start to testing as Antonio Felix da Costa ended the day third-fastest in the sister car.

The pair were split by Lotterer, who finished one-tenth of a second down on Sims at the head of the field for the new DS Techeetah partnership. Lotterer lost some running in the afternoon due to an issue on his car that caused him to stop on-track, sparking a red flag period.

Season 3 champion Lucas di Grassi took fourth overall for Audi ahead of teammate Daniel Abt, while newly-announced Mahindra Formula E driver Jerome d'Ambrosio finished the day sixth-fastest.

Reigning Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne wound up seventh for DS Techeetah ahead of Sebastien Buemi, who was the sole Nissan Formula E driver in action on Tuesday as Alexander Albon sat out running at Valencia. Jose Maria Lopez took ninth for Dragon, while Venturi's Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10.

Tuesday's session marked the first collective team running for the new 'Gen2' cars that will be used in Formula E from Season 5, while a number of new faces also tested including Pascal Wehrlein, who finished 13th, and Stoffel Vandoorne, who would up 19th.

Vandoorne could only manage 10 laps throughout the day due to recurring battery issues on his Venturi-powered car, while teammate Gary Paffett was responsible for a red flag period in the morning after hitting the temporary wall for the chicane on the main straight. He returned to the track later in the day, finishing 18th-fastest.

Running continues at Valencia on Wednesday, with drivers getting another six hours to head out on-track.