Müller tops FE rookie test with Marrakesh track record
Nico Müller gave the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team some cheer after a difficult Marrakesh Formula E race weekend by topping Sunday's rookie test with a new track record.
After seeing the German manufacturer go without points in Saturday's E-Prix, Müller was able to complete an extensive run programme in his first taste of a Formula E car en route to the top of the overall timesheets.
Nico Müller gave the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team some cheer after a difficult Marrakesh Formula E race weekend by topping Sunday's rookie test with a new track record.
After seeing the German manufacturer go without points in Saturday's E-Prix, Müller was able to complete an extensive run programme in his first taste of a Formula E car en route to the top of the overall timesheets.
Müller spent much of the afternoon flirting with the top of the order, but delivered an impressive lap of 1:19.651 in the final stages of the six-hour test to finish almost one second clear of the field on Sunday.
Müller's time would have been good enough for pole position in Saturday's qualifying session against the regular Formula E field, and was one-tenth of a second faster than Daniel Abt's previous track record set in practice in the same car.
World Series Formula V8 3.5 champion Pietro Fittipaldi finished second-fastest for Jaguar in his first outing in a Formula E car, edging clear of Mercedes Formula 3 protege Maximilian Günther in P3.
Ex-Formula 1 racer Paul di Resta was fourth-fastest in the second Jaguar ahead of James Rossiter, who placed fifth for Techeetah in his latest official Formula E outing.
Daniel Juncadella took sixth for Mahindra ahead of Ferrari F1 junior Antonio Giovinazzi, who was closely followed by compatriot Andrea Caldarelli in eighth for Dragon.
Joel Eriksson wound up ninth for DS Virgin Racing, while Nyck de Vries bounced back from a difficult morning marred by technical issues to complete the top 10 in the second Audi.
The day was interrupted by five red flag periods, the first caused by Caldarelli in the morning when he crashed at Turn 1, cutting his opening session short by two hours.
Bruno Spengler, Michael Benyahia and Mitsunori Takaboshi also had on-track stoppages that caused red flags, while a fifth was caused by a dog entering the track not long after Caldarelli's shunt.
Formula E returns on February 3 with the Santiago E-Prix in Chile, round four of the 2017/18 season.
