Race and classic pictures

Gunther full of energy in Formula E pre-season test

Maximilian Gunther was bursting with energy this week as he set the fastest time in Formula E pre-season testing at Valencia.

A late effort from the BMW Andretti driver left him topping the time sheets with a lap of 1:11.760s. But it was a close-run thing, as the entire 24-car field ended the test separated by under eighth tenths of a second.

The a single six-hour session on the final day in Spain saw some of of the warmest conditions of a three-day test, helping the drivers when it came to qualifying simulations and fastest times.

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Dragon Penske Autosport pair Sergio Sette Camara and Nico Muller were next quickest, with Sette Camara just 0.036s behind Gunther and Muller also just half a tenth off the top time.

Having been fastest for much of the session, reigning champion António Félix da Costa ended up in fourth place followed by Jaguar's Mitch Evans, Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein, and Oliver Rowland at the wheel of the Nissan..

Da Costa's DS Techeetah team mate and former champion Jean-Eric Vergne was eighth fastest with NIO 333's Oliver Turvey and Venturi Racing rookie Norman Nato rounded out the top ten.

Stoffel Vandoorne was only 18th fastest in the Mercedes and Nyck de Vries just 21st. The Belgian was perhaps distracted by all the talk about how would get to fill in for Lewis Hamilton in the F1 Sakhir Grand Prix. Ultimately the nod went to George Russell.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.