Robert Shwartzman topped the timesheets in both sessions during yesterday’s ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Rookie Test (13 May), as 22 drivers completed more than 2,000 laps over the course of six hours of running around Berlin’s historic Tempelhof Airport circuit.

Having led the way in the morning for DS Penske, Ferrari Formula 1 reserve driver Shwartzman shaved a further tenth-of-a-second off his earlier effort in the afternoon to stop the clocks with a time of 1m01.937s – a mere 0.118s away from defending Formula E champion Jake Dennis’ pole position benchmark the previous day.

America’s Jak Crawford ran Shwartzman closest on his maiden appearance in the series’ all-electric GEN3 single-seater, the FIA Formula 2 Championship race-winner winding up just under two tenths adrift on his Andretti Formula E try-out.

Former DTM title-winner Sheldon van der Linde was consistently quick in third for Jaguar TCS Racing, with 2022 Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich – last year’s Rookie Test pace-setter – fourth on this occasion for Maserati MSG Racing.

Kush Maini placed fifth for Mahindra Racing, with Enzo Fittipaldi (Jaguar), Frederik Vesti (Mahindra), Zane Maloney (Andretti) and Nissan Formula E Team duo Gabriele Mini and Caio Collet rounding out the top ten, all within half-a-second of Shwartzman’s yardstick time.

Inaugural F1 Academy champion Marta García was another to take to the track for ERT Formula E Team, conducting data collection and development work as she put 88 laps on the board, whilst Alice Powell was also on duty for Envision Racing.

Robert Shwartzman, DS Penske, said:

“Overall, it was a pretty solid day – no mistakes and we tried good options that were positive, with good learning as well. We maximised our track time and I’m happy to show some good results.

“I’m finally feeling stronger and more confident with this car, which is also a positive thing, because it’s not easy to drive so it takes a bit of time. Overall, I’m very happy and thanks to DS Penske for the opportunity. It’s always a pleasure and fun to drive and work with them. From now on, my focus is on Le Mans, then in the future hopefully we’ll see each other again!”

Jak Crawford, Andretti Formula E, said:

“A very good first day in the car – I enjoyed it a lot. The morning was all about getting up-to-speed and finding the limits and in the afternoon, we focused more on performance and putting the best lap time down. At the end of the test, we managed to get in some 350kWh laps and we were happy with where we improved. Overall, I’m happy with how everything went and a big thanks to Andretti for the opportunity.”