Lola Yamaha ABT shows positive development in pre-season test

Lola Yamaha ABT has completed a successful pre-season test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, showing improved pace, reliability and performance

Zane Maloney completed 279 laps, while Lucas di Grassi completed 267 laps across the six test sessions held from Monday 27th to Thursday 30th October. Marta Garcia then took over for a further 76 laps during the second staging of Formula E’s Women’s Test on Friday 31st October.

This has enabled the collection of a large amount of data which, combined with the hard work the whole team has put in during the off-season, has put the team in the best possible position ahead of the first race of the season in Brazil.

Lucas di Grassi, #11: “Testing was good in general as we were able to complete the development program required from our side. We ran with almost no reliability problems or any issues that prevented us from doing as many laps as we could, enabling us to improve the car as much as possible. Of course, we still need to improve the lap times and the pace - we are about half a second from the leaders in qualifying mode - but given the team’s improvement I think we’ve made a big step forward in pre-season and in testing. When it comes to race pace, we are pretty much there and the race efficiency is also very good which was a weak point for us last season and something we’ve worked very hard to improve. So overall very productive and positive, we are way better and more ready than we were this time last year and in a completely different position to start the championship in Sao Paulo on 6th December.”

Zane Maloney, #22: “Testing finished here in Valencia after a very long but positive week for the team. We got through all the test items we wanted to which is very beneficial for the team, had no reliability problems, and generally learnt more about the car going into next year. Everyone in the team has been working very hard over the off-season and we’re looking forward to the first race in Brazil which is coming up very quickly. Thanks to everyone for their support, Lucas and I will be pushing very hard with the team to achieve good results this season.”

Marta Garcia: “It’s been good to test here with the team in Valencia. With the first race taking place in five weeks, I’m glad I was able to help with feedback as we tried out a lot of different setups. For me, it was nice to get behind the wheel of a Formula E car again. It’s always great to have these opportunities and connect with the teams in the paddock and potentially develop longer term relationships in the future.”

Mark Preston, Team Principal, Lola Yamaha ABT: “It’s been a positive week in Valencia, the team has worked extremely hard and we will now take all the data we’ve gathered to help us prepare ahead of Brazil. We’ve made a lot of progress during our first season in Formula E, with all three parts of our team dovetailing together nicely. Following testing we feel we are closer in pace, with much stronger reliability, than we were at this time last season and have made a lot of optimisations over the past few weeks across this test and our recent test in Mallorca. We are looking forward to continuing this development in Season 12.”

The first race of Season 12 of the ABB FIA Formula E World takes place in São Paulo on December 6th.