Normally after pre-season testing most people will have a rough idea of what the order will look like going into the first race of the season. However, due to the Great British summer weather, we have been left in a state of unknown ahead of Beijing.

Obviously from the six days of testing we have figured out who will be challenging for the win in China, and who still has work to do going into the second season of the Formula E Championship. However, due to the rain on the final two days of testing, we failed to get any true 200kW lap times from the teams.

The team that has thrown the biggest curveball at us is NEXTEV TCR. The Chinese team did not run at 200kW throughout the six days of testing, as they already got that data back in their post-season running in Spain at a more representative track than Donington Park.

All we have to go on for NEXTEV is their race pace, which was in the mix of the times set by DS Virgin Racing, Dragon Racing and Mahindra, but teams could be allowed to run at 170kW during the races this season, so the Chinese team could still be an outside bet going into their home ePrix.

E.Dams had a solid pre-season test, but they didn’t dominate like they did the previous year. The French team, with the Renault powertrain, did run into a few mechanical problems in the second week of testing, which they seemed to have ironed out in the final week.

However, the team had to work hard on their powertrain to try and find pace in their qualifying simulation runs, as they struggled to match teams around them on their 200kW laps.

Their race pace was strong throughout testing, but if they fail to understand why their qualifying runs are slow compared to the other teams, then they risk the possibility of starting further back on the grid and struggle to regain positions on the tight street circuits.

Audi Sport ABT look mighty in every department from the six days of testing. The German team have set the lap record for a Formula E car at Donington Park by being the first team to dip into the 1:29s as Lucas Di Grassi set a 1:29:920.

Even though they set the fastest time out of all the test sessions, we don’t know what set-up they were running on the car, as most teams said they could do that lap time if they set their car up towards a Donington Park setup rather than a possible street circuit set up.

However, the German team have made themselves favourites going into the first race of the season.

Dragon Racing have carried on from where they left off last season. The American team have chosen to run with the Venturi powertrain, which has proven to be very reliable over the six days of testing.

Both Jerome d’ Ambrosio and Loic Duval are happy with how the car is looking for this season. The team finished second in the constructors championship last year, and they believe that they have a package that can keep them in the mix for the top five in Beijing.

DS Virgin Racing have been silent on their new powertrain. The team would not reveal to us why they have chosen the one gear dual motor system. The team said that they would tell us at a later date, but not during testing.

Therefore, it is believed that they have a trick up the sleeves that they haven’t showed us in testing yet. The teams pace has been extremely competitive with Sam Bird believing that they have the race pace to be quicker than E.Dams.

The teams qualifying pace has also been competitive, as they were only a couple of tenths off Audi Sport ABT’s time while also being in and around the pace of E.Dams. Therefore, the British team could be in the mix for the podium places in Beijing.

Amlin Andretti is the first team in this list that had a horrific pre-season test. The team had software issues throughout their 15 days post-season tests and all through the six days of pre-season testing. Therefore, they have reverted to the season one package, which may make their season very difficult.

It was frustrating to watch the team, and the mechanics work so hard to get their powertrain to work with little results. The first two days of testing the team was in relatively high spirits that they could solve the issue.

However, as day four came to an end and the team only managed a handful of laps to their names they soon showed signs of frustration when they watched their car stop at the end of the pitlane in front of their very eyes.

The team still soldiered on with the mechanics working unbelievably hard to fix the powertrains software issues, but it ended in vain, as they had to put their powertrain on the shelf for a couple of months as they reverted to the McLaren powertrain of last year.

So what does that mean for their chances? Well they had a productive final day of running with the season one powertrain, but they are set to be around a second of the pace of the front runners, which will mean a lot of time at the back of the grid for a team that should be challenging for race wins.

Team Aguri, like Amlin Andretti, will also be running the season one powertrain, but the Japanese team have had time to optimise last seasons powertrain to make it as efficient as possible in order to claw back some of the lap time that they will lose out on.

They have been by far the most reliable team on the grid with 358 laps to their name. The team are about seven-tenths of a second behind the front-runners, which could leave them fighting for the bottom end of the points scoring positions.

Mahindra Racing have made a massive step forward from where they were last year. The Indian team struggled for points for the majority of last season, but this year they should be in the points on a consistent basis.

Their powertrain has been very reliable throughout the six days of testing, but performance wise they seem to be at the same level as Dragon Racing and Venturi, which means they will be in a hard battle for fifth place. Whoever loses out in that battle could be facing the prospect of only picking up a single point or no points at all.

However, due to the reliability of the powertrain they may be able to pick up the pieces from those in front of them that fail to finish , so I would not rule Mahindra out for a possible podium in Beijing.

Venturi has also had a solid pre-season testing. The Monaco-based team completed the most laps of anybody, plus their powertrain is also being run by the Dragon Racing team, which means their powertrain has completed 811 laps from both teams.

That amount of mileage could lead to a few advanatges for the team, as they should be in a better postion to optimise the software of the car to find a little bit more lap time, which should allow them to move forward in the devlopment of their powertrain for this season, as well as next season.

The team should still be in a battle for fifth place with Mahindra and Dragon Racing, but maybe later in the season with the team getting double the amount of data than the other manafactures they could find themselves challenging for race wins come the end of the season.

Finally, the Trulli Formula E team, it is pretty hard to say how they will do ths season with only seven laps of running. They should struggle at the back of the grid for the first few races, but if they get to grips with their new powertrain, they might be able to overtake Team Aguri and Amlin Andretti in the latter part of the season.

It is hard to pinpoint who will be on pole in Beijing, as rain hit the final two days of running at Donington Park stopping any relevant 200kW lap times, leaving us in the unknown about what is going to happen, but we have made a grid line-up of what we think will happen in Beijing’s ePrix qualifying session.

Formula E Zone Predicted Grid For The Beijing ePrix

1. Lucas Di Grassi Audi Sport ABT

2. Sebastien Buemi E.Dams

3. Nicolas Prost E.Dmas

4. Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT

5. Jean-Eric Vergne DS Virgin Racing

6. Sam Bird DS Virgin Racing

7. Jerome d’Ambrosio Dragon Racing

8. Nelson Piquet Jr NEXTEV TCR

9. Stephane Sarrazin Venturi

10. Bruno Senna Mahindra

11. Oliver Turvey NEXTEV TCR

12. Loic Duval Dragon Racing

13. Nick Heidfeld Mahindra

14. Jacques Villeneuve Venturi

15. Team Aguri*

16. Team Aguri*

17. Simona De Silvestro Amlin Andretti

18. Amlin Andretti*

19. Vitantonio Liuzzi Trulli Formula E

20. Salvador Duran Trulli Formula E

*Team yet to annouce driver.

Looking at that proposed grid line-up, the battle between Dragon Racing, NEXTEV TCR, Venturi and Mahindra will be absolutley fascinating to see who comes out on top. Even though NEXTEV TCR seem to be struggling we know they haven’t run at 200kW, and when they do we think they will be chalenging those teams.

I think we are in for an amazing season. Only 50 days to go until round one *sigh*