Occasional rain showers meant there was no repeat of yesterday’s record-breaking performances, and Abt’s 1:30.073 was almost half a second down on Jean-Eric-Vergne’s best from day two.“Today’s conditions were definitely the worst and it wasn’t easy but the track luckily dries quite quickly,” said Abt. “At the end of this morning and at the end of the afternoon the conditions were quite good. It was good to get some wet running as we don’t get to do much normally so we can understand the car a bit more and try a few things. It’s always nice to have the fastest lap time but I don’t care so much at this point.

“In this test we’ve done everything that we planned. At the beginning of each day you start with a plan and it always changes but as I said, we have had no issues which has been really good. “The car feels like an improvement and it’s running well with no issues. Last year at this time we had a lot more issues on the car so we are very sorted in terms of software. The rest, it’s hard to tell if we are competitive… No one really knows.”

The slippery conditions meant there numerous interruptions for red flags as Maro Engel (Venturi) and Nico Prost (Renault e.dams) visited the gravel. Nick Heidfeld carried on Mahindra’s strong showing at Donington by setting the second fastest time, while Prost was third fastest despite his off-track excursion. Dean Stoneman ran for 44 laps on his Formula E test debut for NEXTEV, while Harry Tincknell managed 39 laps for Jaguar. Stoneman ended up 16th fastest overall, Tincknell 17th. In the damp afternoon session, Jean-Eric Vergne (Techeetah) was almost a second clear of the pack after putting together a strong lap of 1:30.234 on a drying track. Sebastien Buemi and Carroll both bettered his first sector time, but fell well short of his outright pace. 

Testing resumes at Donington Park on September 5.

1. Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, 1:30.073
2. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +0.022s
3. Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah, +0.139s
4. Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +0.164s
5. Lucas di Grassi, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, +0.179s
6. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, +0.480s
7. Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti, +0.696s
8. Maro Engel, Venturi, +1.020s
9. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +1.071s
10. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +1.104s
11. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +1.148s
12. 12.  Jose-Maria Lopez, DS Virgin Racing, +1.374s
13. 13.  Adam Carroll, Jaguar Racing, +1.648s
14. 14.  Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra, +2.637s
15. 15.  Ma Qing Hua, Techeetah, +2.765s
16. 16.  Dean Stoneman, NEXTEV NIO, +3.316s
17. 17.  Harry Tincknell, Jaguar Racing, +3.854s
18. 18.  Robin Frijns, Andretti, +8.994s
19. 19.  Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, +10.041s

Total laps by teams (all three test days)

1. Renault e.dams 234
2. ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 228
3. Mahindra Racing 209
4. DS Virgin Racing 205
5.  Jaguar Racing 201
6. Venturi 201
7. Andretti 184
8. Faraday Future Dragon Racing 177
9. Techeetah 169
10. NEXTEV NIO 132