Alisha Palmowski and Alice Powell participated in an historic moment on Friday afternoon, as they participated for Envision Racing in the first All-Women’s Test in Formula E history.
The three-hour session, a ground-breaking moment in FIA single-seater racing, saw 18 drivers across all 11 teams on the grid take part – at the Circuito del Jarama in Madrid.
Competitive lap times at the top of the timesheets certainly caught the eye and, while both Envision drivers were hampered on their ‘push’ laps to prevent them maximising their individual lap times, both Powell and Palmowski helped the team gain further invaluable data on energy saving and other factors ahead of the start of Season 11.
“Unfortunately, run plan was hampered due to an issue and then I was blocked on my full power run,” Powell noted on social media. “But, I LOVED the new Gen 3 Evo!”
While Powell has tested for Envision on a number of occasions, Palmowski, 18, was making the step up to single-seaters of this nature for the first time. Adjustments to the car delayed the start of her session, but she nevertheless completed 24 laps of the track – with her best time, set at a lower power mode, within touching distance of those using the full 350kW.
“What an awesome experience, what an awesome car,” Palmowski said.
“Such a great experience … a little bit frustrated, too, as I only managed two push laps across the session, but we did a lot of data gathering on energy saving which was my main objective for the team today.
“It’s been an amazing experience and I hope to be back in the car at some point in the future!”
Nissan driver Abbi Pulling ended up topping the timesheets. The session concluded a long week of testing for the team, one of the final chances to put the new GEN3 Evo through its paces ahead of the start of Season 11.
The season opens in São Paulo on December 7.
