Kelvin Van Der Linde topped the timesheets in the morning session of Formula E’s in-season rookie test at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan in Marrakesh.
The South African, driving Daniel Abt’s Audi E-Tron FE06, completed a 1m 17.505s run to head the field of 24 in what was an uninterrupted three-hour session.
Nick Cassidy emerged as the closest driver to the 23-year-old ahead, trailing by 0.021s for Envision Virgin Racing while Jake Hughes was third for Mercedes EQ.
Jaguar’s Sacha Fenetraz completed the joint-third highest number of laps – trailing Daniel Juncadella by one – in the morning to take fourth while W Series champion Jamie Chadwick was 20th in the British outfit’s second I-TYPE 4.
Filipe Albuquerque completed the top five for DS Techeetah while Norman Nato – who held the fastest time for a large portion of the session – was sixth for ROKiT Venturi Racing, tied on laps with Fenetraz.
His team-mate for the test, Arthur Leclerc, completed more laps than any other driver, turning the 2.971km-long circuit on 50 occasions to record the 18th-fastest time overall.
Pipo Derani followed Nato in the overall timings in seventh for Mahindra while prolific tester Frederic Makowiecki was eighth for Porsche, heading new GEOX Dragon test and reserve drivers Sergio Sette Camara and Joel Eriksson who completed the top 10, covered by 0.662s.