Nick Cassidy set the pace on the final day of Formula E pre-season testing, in what’s been a turbulent and eventful week for everyone at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

Jaguar TCS Racing’s pace is evident, with Cassidy topping Friday having completed a clean sweep for the British manufacturer, as Mitch Evans was quickest on Tuesday morning and on Thursday afternoon.

To make up for the time lost following the battery fire on Tuesday afternoon, the final day was extended to a straight 10-hour session; however, the first hour was used to complete a mock-race. The mock-race saw the drivers enter the pits and remain stationary for the amount of time they would if they were receiving fast-charging, in what was an interesting spectacle.

It was Robin Frijns who won the mock-race, although it was far from an accurate representation of the pecking order. When normal service resumed, it was a Jaguar 1-3 come the end of the session, with just under a tenth of a second separating Cassidy and Evans.

In between the Jaguar duo was Maximilian Günther, who was 0.041s behind Cassidy’s leading time of 1m 24.617s. Ahead of testing this week, Günther had been the fastest driver in three of the last years, although the top spot wasn’t to be ahead of season 10.

Mock-race winner Frijns was fourth quickest, meaning three Jaguar powertrains featured in the top-four. Then came the first of the Porsches, as Pascal Wehrlein completed the top-five. Norman Nato was sixth for Andretti Formula E, ahead of Oliver Rowland and Jake Hughes.

Reigning World Champion Jake Dennis could only manage ninth, with season eight World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne completing the top-10.

Rookie Jehan Daruvala enjoyed another solid day in P13, whilst the returning Nyck de Vries was back in action after missing Thursday’s session. It came at a cost though, as the Dutchman spent the day in Edoardo Mortara’s car, due to his not being able to take part in the session. As a result, Mortara didn’t complete any running on the final day.

To make up for not being able to use both cars due to sustaining damage from the fire, Mahindra Racing have been granted additional private testing time at a venue of their choice. At the back of the field were both ERT Formula E Team drivers. Remarkably, just over seven-tenths of a second separated the 21 drivers.

Just like that, Formula E testing has drawn to a close, with all the cars not set to be seen on track together again until the season-opener in Mexico City. Considering what happened on Tuesday afternoon, Formula E and the FIA did a tremendous job to ensure that testing could resume, with only 30 minutes having technically been lost courtesy of the extended sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Jaguar certainly appear to be the team to beat come Mexico City, with Cassidy having been the quickest at 300kW, whilst Evans’ time at 350kW on Tuesday morning was the quickest of the week.

Mitch Evans was the fastest driver once again as testing finally got back underway on Thursday afternoon, following the conclusion of an investigation into what caused Tuesday’s battery fire.

Thursday afternoon’s extended 4.5 hour session was the first time the drivers had been on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia since the end of the first session of the pre-season test on Tuesday. As a safety precaution, the drivers weren’t allowed to run at 350kW, with only 300kW having been permitted. This meant the quickest lap-time was slower than seen on Tuesday.

This didn’t stop Evans from setting the pace in the session, courtesy of a 1m 24.791s, just over three-tenths slower than he went on Tuesday. Evans only just claimed the top spot, as António Félix da Costa was just 0.023s behind the Kiwi.

It was an impressive time by Da Costa considering he only participated in the final hour of the session, as TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team fielded rookie Gabriela Jilkova. In doing so, she became the first woman to test a Gen3 car. She completed 46 laps for the Stuttgart-based squad.

Behind Evans and Da Costa was Edoardo Mortara, who put in a heroic display to be just over a tenth slower than the leading pace. Considering the 48 hours Mahindra Racing have had, this was a tremendous effort, as a lot of the team’s equipment was damaged in Tuesday’s fire. Because of the damage the side sustained, Nyck de Vries was forced to sit out.

Mortara actually led the bulk of the afternoon, before Evans jumped to the front. Just over two-tenths behind Evans in fourth was Robin Frijns, who is readjusting to life back at Envision Racing very well, it seems. He was closely followed by Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Günther.

The Jaguars and Porsches once again just seemed stronger than the rest, as proven by the fact they each had two cars using their powertrain in the top-five. Seventh was Oliver Rowland, ahead of Norman Nato in eighth. Rookie Jehan Daruvala did well to end the session just 0.358s behind Evans’ time, enough for P9. Nick Cassidy completed the top-10.

Reigning World Champion Jake Dennis could only salvage 12th, in what was his first session of testing after sitting out on Tuesday morning. Well off the pace at the back were both ERT Formula E Team drivers, as Dan Ticktum was 21st with Sérgio Sette Câmara in 22nd.

Action will resume at 08:30 CET (07:30 GMT)for what is now an extended 10-hour session, which will run all the way through to 18:30 CET (17:30 GMT) without a lunch break. This has been scheduled to try and make up for the 7.5 hours which remain lost, as 1.5 hours were made up for in the extended session on Thursday.

Testing will not be extended beyond Friday; however, Mahindra will be granted additional private testing time to make up for what they’ve lost with De Vries’ car not being able to participate in the remainder of the test. It’s already been confirmed by Mahindra that De Vries will share Mortara’s car on Friday.

Formula E have officially confirmed that pre-season testing at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia will resume on Thursday afternoon at 2pm CET (1pm GMT), as the investigation into Tuesday afternoon’s battery fire has concluded.

The drivers have lost four sessions of testing in total as a result of the investigation into what caused the battery fire on Tuesday, which took place in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage.

WAE are the suppliers of the Gen3 batteries and the fast-chargers, with the company having been investigating at the time of the fire why one of DS Penske’s cars had come to a halt. Rookie Robert Shwartzman – who was driving Stoffel Vandoorne’s car – stopped on circuit during the opening session of testing, resulting in a red flag.

After the car was returned to the pits, the battery was extracted and taken to WAE, where it ignited. In the history of Formula E, it’s the first time that an incident like this has happened, highlighting just how safe the World Championship is.

Testing was ultimately halted so that an investigation could be conducted into the cause of the blaze, resulting in no on-track action on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday or Thursday morning.

Thankfully, the FIA has granted Formula E permission for on-track action to now resume, following the conclusion of their investigation into the fire.

Formula E released a statement which read: “Following the incident that happened on Tuesday and subsequent investigations, the FIA has authorised Formula E pre-season testing to resume today from 2pm CET.

“The investigations and findings provided by the technical suppliers and reviewed by the FIA confirm that it is acceptable for on-track activity to go ahead. Pre-season testing will now continue through Friday. An updated on-track session schedule will be distributed soon.”

This will come as a huge sigh of relief for five drivers, including reigning World Champion Jake Dennis, who were replaced by a rookie driver in the only session of the week so far. Following the cancelled sessions, the mandatory three hours of rookie testing has been dropped.

The returning Nyck de Vries will also not take part in Thursday afternoon’s session and will potentially – but not confirmed – miss Friday as well. Mahindra Racing have been forced to move to a new garage following the fire, which damaged equipment for the Dutchman’s car.

To make up for some of the lost time, Thursday afternoon’s session has been extended to 4.5 hours, rather than the usual three.

Formula E have released an update as to the plan going forwards with pre-season testing, which has been thrown into doubt following a battery fire on the opening day in Valencia.

It’s been confirmed that after the cancellation of Tuesday afternoon and the entirety of Wednesday, track action will also not take place on Thursday morning. However, there is hope that testing can resume tomorrow afternoon at 2pm CET “subject to final confirmation”.

Formula E will make a further announcement on Thursday morning as to whether testing can get back underway in the afternoon and if it can even take place on Friday at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. It is seemingly dependant on the “completion of an investigation” into the cause of one of the Gen3 batteries igniting.

A statement was released on Wednesday evening, which read: “Formula E pre-season testing is preparing to resume from 2pm CET tomorrow, Thursday.

“This is subject to final confirmation at 11am, and will follow completion of an investigation into the incident that happened yesterday. Further updates will follow in due course.”

The unexpected battery fire took place during the lunch break on the opening day of testing (yesterday) in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage. WAE are responsible for all of the Gen3 batteries and fast-chargers, which were trialled on Tuesday.

It was a battery extracted from a DS Penske car – driven by rookie Robert Shwartzman – which ignited, sending shockwaves down the paddock. A drivers’ press conference was taking place at the time but was abruptly halted. Shwartzman had stopped on track during the morning session of Tuesday, with his battery having seemingly been extracted not long after.

Local fire authorities were quickly on the scene to tackle the fire, whilst the entire paddock was evacuated. One WAE was taken to hospital for “precautionary checks” but was thankfully discharged without the need of treatment

The area was cordoned off, with the teams having been informed to collect their things and leave. It was announced on Tuesday evening that no on-track action would take place on Wednesday. Instead, the paddock used it as a bit of a media day.

WAE’s garage has, of course, been damaged by the blaze, as has Mahindra Racing’s. The Banbury-based team have since moved to another garage, although it’s been reported that some of their computers have been damaged.

Mitch Evans topped what remains as the only session of pre-season testing, with his leading time having been almost seven-tenths of a second quicker than what was seen in testing ahead of season nine.

Following a Gen3 battery igniting on Tuesday afternoon at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Formula E have confirmed that all activities scheduled for Wednesday have been cancelled, with an investigation into the blaze “ongoing”.

Formula E’s official pre-season test ahead of season 10 getting underway in January has been thrown into huge doubt, as the Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) garage caught fire during the lunch break, ahead of the second session of testing.

WAE are responsible for all of the Gen3 batteries and the fast-charging devices, which were trialled by each team during the morning session. According to reports, it was a Gen3 battery extracted from a DS Penske car – which had been driven in the morning by Robert Shwartzman – which ignited, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.

Shwartzman had come to a halt during the morning session, resulting in a red flag.

The fiery incident itself unfolded during a drivers’ press conference, which was abruptly halted. Everyone in the pit-lane was evacuated, so that the local fire authorities could cordon off the area and tackle the fire. Thankfully, only one person was transported to hospital for “precautionary checks” but was soon discharged “without treatment”.

Formula E soon announced that the afternoon session wouldn’t be taking place for obvious reasons, with the teams having therefore collected their things and departed the circuit. It remains a developing situation. However, the latest update is that Wednesday’s schedule has been cancelled.

The hope is that what was supposed to take place on Wednesday can instead take place on Thursday, but this will be confirmed at a later time.

Formula E stated: “In response to an incident earlier today at Formula E pre-season testing in Valencia when a fire caused damage to a garage in the pit-lane, on-track testing activity will not go ahead tomorrow, Wednesday.

“Damage from the incident was contained following the activation of emergency procedures. One person was taken to hospital as a precaution but was released without treatment.

“An investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, but has already identified an issue which is being addressed. The investigation and further safety assessments will be completed and we aim to resume on-track activities from Thursday, subject to final confirmation tomorrow.”

The best case scenario now is that on-track action can get back underway on Thursday, which was originally scheduled as a media day. On the flip side, the worst case scenario is that if all the cars are affected, then questions will have to be asked as to whether any more running will take place. However, this is purely a prediction of what the worst outcome could be.

With the exception of Shwartzman coming to a halt, the opening session of testing was a successful affair. Mitch Evans topped the session and was seven-tenths quicker than Maximilian Günther’s pacesetting time from almost 12 months ago, highlighting how much progress has been made with the Gen3 package.

One concern potentially amongst five drivers, including Jake Dennis, is that they didn’t complete any running on Tuesday morning, as a rookie took their place. Wednesday will hopefully bring better news and a brighter outlook for the remainder of the test, with a significant setback being the last thing needed ahead of the sport’s centurion campaign.

Formula E have confirmed that session two of the official pre-season test has been cancelled, following a fire in the Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) garage during the lunch break.

Tuesday’s afternoon session was due to get underway at 1pm GMT but it was announced at 2pm GMT that it’d been cancelled. The fire in the WAE garage is believed to have been caused by a Gen3 battery which they supply. It was a battery used by DS Penske rookie Robert Shwartzman in particular, which was being checked over in the WAE garage at the time.

Shwartzman had stopped on circuit during the morning session, resulting in a red flag.

The fire was dealt with very quickly by the local fire authorities; however, a WAE employee was taken to hospital for “precautionary checks”. When the blaze ignited, the entire paddock at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia were evacuated. Black smoke from the fire could be seen rising into the sky by the media centre, in what was a dramatic shock to all.

What the plan is for the schedule going forwards is yet to be confirmed, given that it’ll need to be tweaked. Following the cancellation of the rest of Tuesday’s activities, Formula E has instructed all the teams to collect their things and depart, with the cars not to be worked.

Formula E stated: “Following the incident earlier today, the FIA have advised Formula E and all teams that on-track activities have been cancelled for the rest of the day. This will allow for the area to return to safe working conditions. Further updates will be shared in due course.”

The cancellation of the second session has impacted five drivers in particular, who were replaced by a rookie driver on Tuesday morning. Each team must field a rookie for three of the 18 hours of testing this week.

One of the drivers to sit out the session was reigning World Champion Jake Dennis, who was replaced by Formula 2 driver Zane Maloney. Both Nissan drivers were also replaced by rookies.

It was Mitch Evans who topped the session after setting a 1m 24.474s, almost seven-tenths of a second quicker than Maximilian Günther’s leading time from testing almost 12 months ago. This highlights just how much has been learnt about the Gen3 machinery, although the top-five still consisted of two Jaguar-powered cars and two Porsches.

The returning Nyck de Vries was the slowest driver and was two seconds off the pace, with him clearly needing time to get back up to speed. Fast-charging pit-stops were also trialled by each team, in what’s set to be a new feature for season 10.

Should the pit-lane be safe to return to on Wednesday, then action is scheduled to get underway at 8am GMT.

A fire has broken out at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, ahead of the second session of Formula E testing which is supposed to get underway at 2pm local time (1pm GMT).

Formula E confirmed not long after the conclusion of the morning session – which was topped by Mitch Evans – that a fire had broken out in the pit-lane, with reports on the scene suggesting that it took place in the Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) garage. It should be stressed that hasn’t been confirmed by the all-electric series.

WAE are responsible for the batteries and the fast-charging devices, which were trialled during the opening test session. In response to the blaze which saw black smoke rise into the sky near the media centre, the pit-lane building has been evacuated, with “no reported injuries” initially.

The area of the fire has been cordoned off by the authorities, who are dealing with the unfortunate incident.

In an initial statement on social media, Formula E said: “Formula E and the FIA are working with the local authorities to contain the fire incident in the pit-lane. The building has been evacuated and there are no reported injuries. More information to follow about Test Session 2 in due course.”

It is yet to be confirmed whether the second session will take place.

*Update – At 12:53 GMT, Formula E released a second statement which confirmed that one individual had been “transported to hospital for precautionary checks”. The cause of the fire is continuing to be investigated; however, the area of the incident has been “contained”.

Formula E stated: “In a break between practice sessions, a fire was detected in the pit-lane and garage area which has been contained. The on-track Incident Response Team acted immediately to contain the incident while the main pit building and garages were quickly evacuated.

“One person has been assessed by medics and has been transported to hospital for precautionary checks. Formula E, the FIA and local fire authorities are investigating the cause and will provide a further update in due course.”

More to follow…

Mitch Evans topped the first morning session of the official Formula E pre-season test, being held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

Tuesday morning in many ways marked the countdown to the season 10 opener in Mexico City, which takes place on 13 January 2024. It was Evans who made the best start to the test by ending the opening session as the fastest driver, a spot he claimed courtesy of setting a 1m 24.474s.

Just over a tenth of a second behind the Jaguar TCS Racing driver was António Félix da Costa, who enjoyed a solid start in Valencia. Envision Racing’s Sébastian Buemi completed the top-three.

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team looked particularly strong on Tuesday morning, as Pascal Wehrlein led the session momentarily. He ended up in P5, behind the impressive Edoardo Mortara. Seeing Mahindra Racing in the top-four was certainly a surprise, given that they had the weakest package last season.

For Valencia, Mahindra are running a special test livery, which is made up of white and red. Both Porsche drivers being in the top-five is a good indicator that perhaps their one-lap pace has improved, with that having been their real achilles heel in season nine. They’ll be hoping to remain towards the top throughout the rest of the week.

Sixth spot was occupied by Maximilian Günther, who was the pacesetter in Valencia almost 12 months ago. He was narrowly ahead of rookie driver Taylor Barnard, who completed the session for NEOM McLaren in place of Sam Bird. Bird will be in the car this afternoon.

Barnard is McLaren’s chosen rookie driver to complete at least three hours of testing, an opportunity he’s clearly making the most of having topped his first ever Formula E session at one point.

Nico Müller, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Nick Cassidy completed the top-10. Season 10 rookie Jehan Daruvala completed 45 laps in his maiden test session for Maserati MSG Racing, with his best time having put him P13 on the timesheets.

Excluding Daruvala, five rookies were used during the session, including Nissan’s Victor Martins and Luca Ghiotto, Andretti’s Zane Maloney, who took Jake Dennis’ car, Barnard and Robert Shwartzman.

With the exception of Barnard, all the rookies featured towards the bottom of the timesheets, whilst Shwartzman at DS Penske was responsible for the session’s only red flag. The returning Nyck de Vries, was last and two seconds off the pace.

Interestingly, Evans’ lap time was quicker than Günther’s fastest time from testing ahead of season nine, which was a 1m 25.127s. To already be nearly a second quicker than Günther’s time from last year shows just how much has been learnt about the Gen3 machinery, with a 1m 23s perhaps set to be seen by the end of the week.

One key feature of the first session of testing was the inclusion of fast-charging pit-stops, with each team having trialled the system whilst conducting a mock pit-stop as if it were a race.

So it’s the Jaguars and the Porsches looking the strongest once again. Will this continue in this afternoon’s session?

85 days have passed since Jake Dennis and Envision Racing were victorious in the season nine finale in London, with the duo having won their respective championships.

The opening campaign of the Gen3 era is old news now though, with pre-season testing for Formula E’s centurion campaign getting officially underway on Tuesday in Valencia. All 11 teams have three days of running (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday) to get everything ready for the season-opener in Mexico City in January.

As per usual, each day of testing will be split into a morning and afternoon session, ultimately equating to 18 hours’ worth of running for each car, that is if each car doesn’t endure any problems.

With a full season of Gen3 having now been completed, testing will allow the teams to put everything they learnt during season nine into action. There are a few things to watch out for, most notably the introduction of fast-charging pit-stops, which will be trialled in two mock races set to take place on Wednesday.

Fast-charging pit-stops are set to be introduced in season 10, something which will add a completely new dynamic to a traditional E-Prix.

Several new liveries will also be seen, with a handful of the outfits having unveiled a new design ahead of testing getting underway. Andretti’s new livery is particularly special, not only because Dennis is running the No.1 plate but because they’re rocking the team’s new colours since rebranding as Andretti Global.

It’s not just Andretti who’ll be looking drastically different, as NIO 333 Racing are now a team of the past, having successfully rebranded as the ERT Formula E Team. Chinese manufacturer NIO have left the all-electric series after seven seasons.

As well as new liveries, testing will offer a glimpse of all the driver transfers which unfolded after the season nine finale.

Driver transfers

Nine driver transfers took place in what was a chaotic silly season, with the full class of season 10 having only recently been confirmed. Robin Frijns has returned to Envision to replace new Jaguar TCS Racing driver Nick Cassidy, whilst Lucas di Grassi has taken Frijns’ spot at ABT CUPRA.

Frijns and Di Grassi aren’t the only drivers to have returned to a former side of theirs, as Oliver Rowland is back with Nissan, having replaced Norman Nato who now races for Andretti. Rowland and Di Grassi having moved left two seats at Mahindra Racing, which have been filled by Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries, who has returned to the series after a year away.

André Lotterer wasn’t the only German driver to leave Formula E, as did René Rast. He’s been replaced by Sam Bird, whose seat Cassidy has taken. Mortara joining Mahindra left a spot for Maserati MSG Racing to fill, something they’ve done by signing the only rookie of the 2023/24 season.

Jehan Daruvala has successfully graduated from Formula 2 and will compete for Maserati. He also left his reserve role at Mahindra to switch to Monte-Carlo. Whilst Daruvala is the only rookie on the season 10 grid, he won’t be the only one driving in pre-season testing.

Rookies in action

In Valencia this week, each team must use a rookie driver for at least three of the 18 allocated hours of testing. Maserati do still have to use another rookie driver despite season 10 being Daruvala’s first.

With the exception of Gabriela Jilkova – who’ll be completing three hours for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team – and Taylor Barnard who NEOM McLaren are using, all the rookies being fielded appeared in last season’s Berlin rookie test.

Andretti have opted to use F2 driver Zane Maloney, Mahindra have chosen Jordan King, Envision will be fielding Jack Aitken, ABT CUPRA are using Adrien Tambay and Tim Tramnitz once again, Robert Shwartzman will be at DS Penske, Sheldon van der Linde at Jaguar, Mikel Azcona Troyas at ERT, Yann Ehrlacher at Maserati and Nissan are using both Victor Martins and Luca Ghiotto.

With the exception of Daruvala, no rookie driver can compete in either mock race.

The venue

As has been the case for years, Formula E’s official pre-season test will take place at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, which is most famously the season finale on the MotoGP calendar. The circuit has hosted an E-Prix once, back during the COVID-19 impacted season seven.

The 3.376km circuit consists of 15 corners and runs anti-clockwise, whilst it also features an artificial chicane down the start/finish straight to mimic the tight corners usually seen at a typical Formula E street venue.

Some drivers have been critical of Valencia being used for testing, as the circuit isn’t very representative of a street track. However, testing on a street venue in a city for a week is clearly not practical nor logistically possible.

Last season’s test saw a variety of wet and dry weather. Thankfully, the current forecast is that the drivers will be met with sunny skies throughout the week.

What to expect

Given that it’s pre-season testing, that’s difficult to say! However, with the hardware still being under homologation until the end of the new season, the Jaguars and Porsches will likely look competitive.

A true picture of the pecking order may not be seen until the end of the week, when a surge for hot laps unfolds. Software can be played around with though, something Mortara admitted can make a huge difference.

As proven in testing ahead of season nine, not too much attention should be given to the timesheets, given that the leading places were dominated by Maserati and DS Penske almost 12 months ago. Come the season nine opener in Mexico City, both were nowhere to be seen.

Maximilian Günther was the outright pacesetter in testing last year. Can he repeat that this week?

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team have confirmed that they’ll be using LMP3 and GT4 driver Gabriela Jilkova during next week’s official pre-season test in Valencia, with all the teams to field at least one rookie driver.

All the teams must field a rookie driver for at least three of the 18 hours of testing at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo next week, with Porsche opting to use Jilkova, who’s completed work in the simulator for the Stuttgart-based team.

Jilkova is an ADAC Prototype Cup LMP3 race winner but has competed in various GT4 championships throughout her career, alongside conducting simulator work for Porsche.

Team Principal Florian Modlinger announced that Jilkova would be given time on the circuit in Valencia on Tuesday morning, whilst they also revealed that Pascal Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa had been retained for the 2023/24 season.

“Pascal Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa will be joined by Gabriela Jílková in Valencia,” Modlinger confirmed. “She has already supported us in the simulator, now we’re giving her the chance to show what she can do on the racetrack as well.”

Each side having to use a rookie driver is another initiative which has been implemented by Formula E to give more drivers experience in the series, with last season having seen the return of the official one-day rookie test which was conducted in Berlin – this is set to take place again in season 10. Season nine also saw a unique rookie free practice session take place in Rome, titled ‘free practice 0’.

Formula E is yet to officially confirm that a rookie must be used for three hours next week; however, as well as being reported by The Race, several teams have announced who’ll be representing them as a rookie in Valencia and in season 10.

It should be noted that most teams are expected to field just one rookie for the full three hours, although this will be spread presumably across both cars.

Andretti Formula E have confirmed that Formula 2 driver Zane Maloney will be representing the team in Valencia, with him having been the American outfit’s rookie last campaign. Mahindra Racing will be fielding Jordan King, who has extended his deal with the Banbury-based side, as their reserve, simulator and development driver.

Reigning Constructors’ Champion’s Envision Racing have also announced that Jack Aitken will be used as their rookie driver next week, whilst he was also used by the squad last season.

Envision are an interesting one, given that they’ll potentially need to field two rookie drivers in Berlin, as Robin Frijns and Sébastian Buemi are expected to race in the 2024 WEC Six hours of Spa-Francorchamps on the same weekend.

Other rookie drivers who are set to be used in Valencia next week are Adrien Tambay and Tim Tramnitz at ABT CUPRA, Robert Shwartzman at DS Penske, Sheldon van der Linde at Jaguar TCS Racing, Mikel Azcona Troyas at NIO 333 Racing, Taylor Barnard at NEOM McLAren, Yann Ehrlacher at Maserati MSG Racing and both Luca Ghiotto and Victor Martins at Nissan.

With the exception of Jilkova and Barnard, every rookie so far understood to be testing in Valencia tested last season.

With the exception of Maserati’s new signing Jehan Daruvala, the rookie drivers will be banned from driving in the two race simulations expected to take place next Wednesday, which will include fast-charging pit-stops.