Formula E competitors stay busy during brief off-week

Formula E competitors stay busy during brief off-week

Published Jun. 2, 2015 6:09 p.m. ET

Over half the Formula E drivers were in action last weekend, with a remarkable 11 of them taking part in the official Le Mans 24 Hours test day.

Audi teammates Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT) and Loic Duval (Dragon) were the fastest of the bunch, recording the fourth fastest time.

Duval scored his best Formula E result to date last time out in Berlin with third position and he thinks he can go even better this weekend in Moscow.

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"If we can line up a bit higher on the grid then we should be in the mix to challenge for victory," he said. "And why not as early as next week in Moscow? I'm not familiar with Russia, but am looking forward to traveling there, as well as discovering the circuit located right next to the Kremlin."

E.dams-Renault racer Sebastien Buemi was the fastest of the Toyota cars in seventh, just ahead of the sister car of Stephane Sarrazin (Venturi), who shares the car with sometime Formula E commentator Mike Conway.

Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault) and Nick Heidfeld (Venturi) were the fastest of the non-hybrid LMP1 cars in ninth for Rebellion, while Daniel Abt (Audi Sport ABT) was 10th in the sister car as he prepares for his Le Mans debut.

Mahindra's Karun Chandhok set the LMP2 pace in the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan. Virgin Racing's Sam Bird was fourth in the LMP2 class in the G-drive Ligier-Nissan, while ex-China Racing driver Ho-Pin Tung was seventh in LMP2 in the Pegasus Racing Morgan-Nissan.

In the GT Pro class, NEXTEV TCR returnee Antonio Garcia was back in eighth in the works Corvette.

Amlin Aguri's Antonio Felix da Costa was in race action in the DTM at Lausitzring. Brake issues hampered him in Race 1, while he was punted off in the second race, meaning he didn't score any points. It was a more fruitful weekend for the Abt team, who claimed two seconds and two thirds with Mattias Ekstrom and Edoardo Mortara.

In the opening round of the Global Rallycross Championship, there was a double podium finish for Formula E drivers with Andretti's Scott Speed claiming second ahead of NEXTEV's title-challenger Nelson Piquet Jr.

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