Daniel Abt finished fastest on the final day of the first collective preseason Formula E test this year. A best lap of 1:30.073 in the morning session was enough to put Abt at the top of the timesheets at the end of a drizzly, grey day despite a late flurry of improvements in the afternoon as the track dried out. Overnight rain and light rain during the lunch break meant both morning and afternoon sessions began in damp conditions but lap times were closer to yesterday’s benchmark from Jean-Eric Vergne than anticapted. Arguably, it was Vergne and his Techeetah team that impressed the most today, finishing the afternoon session eight-tenths of a second clear of anyone else.

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1709 So that’s a wrap for the first test at Donington Park this summer. Vergne’s new lap record from Wednesday remains the time to beat ahead of the second three-day test in September. It’s unlikely many of the teams will have shown their hand just yet though – so still lots to be decided before we get to Hong Kong.

1700 Engel goes second with his lap for Venturi… and that’s it! The first test is finished!

1659 Carroll is only P7 with his lap. Looks like Vergne will hold on for P1 and Abt’s time from this morning will remain unbeaten…

1656 Buemi improves but is still P2 after a slow final sector. Carroll is now quickest in the first sector.

1654 Buemi’ goes ‘full Buemi’ to take P1 – only for JEV to go faster still! A 1:30.234 is 1.1 seconds quicker than Buemi, and not far off Abt’s time this morning. Lots of late improvements in the dying embers of the first test!

1650 Vergne finds another 1.6 seconds over Ma – these Techeetah lads are looking in very good shape.

1648 Lots of late charges here as they turn the cars up. Ma Qinghua goes P1 for Techeetah and JEV is on a very quick lap.

1646 Another improvement from di Grassi draws him to within a second of AFdC. The Brazilian now sits P2.

1642 Di Grassi moves up to fourth, 1.5 seconds off da Costa at the top. Still nowhere near Abt’s fastest time from this morning though.

1635 Heidfeld also jumps up in the second Mahindra, making it a 2-3 for the team. AFdC still leads, over a second clear for Andretti.

1631 Rosenqvist improves his time to go P2 once again for Mahindra. Into the final 30 minutes of the first test now.

1621 Stoneman is the only driver on-track at the moment. Abt has risen to third in the timesheets ahead of Rosenqvist.

1614 …or at least he did. It’s now Felix da Costa who’s P1 after a rapid lap, 3.4 seconds quicker than the previous best.

1613 We’re now back to green. Buemi continues to lead from Carroll and Rosenqvist.

1600 Just as we enter the final hour of testing, and there’s a red flag following a stop for Maro Engel.

1555 Buemi now sits atop the timing sheets, a full second clear of Rosenqvist in P2. Duval has just improved to go third-fastest.

1542 And we’re back! It’s stopped raining. We had a quick word with Lopez, who said conditions are absolutely fine for running. No sign of the expected rain or thunder. Vergne has just gone quickest for Techeetah.

1510 Still no sign of drivers on-track… let’s go for a walk, see who’s out and about in the paddock!

1500 Hourly update time. Buemi still latest from Rosenqvist and d’Ambrosio. Most of the drivers are currently sheltering from the rain that’s still falling.

1444 Track is quiet again, rain is definitely heavier now. Just three cars on-track at the moment.

1430 As things stand this afternoon – Sebastien Buemi leads the way for Renault e.dams. We’re still 12 or so seconds off the times from this morning, but there’s still consistent running on-track.

1414 We’re now back to green after that stoppage. A handful are out on-track, putting in laps ahead of the expected rain.

1408 …until now! Red flag now out to allow Felix da Costa’s car to be recovered.

1406 Felix da Costa appears to have stopped out on-track – but there’s no red flag.

1400 We’re now green again at Donington Park. The final session of the first test is underway. Rain continues to fall and the wind seems to have picked up, so running may be more limited than this morning.

1345 The pit lane has been emptied, meaning we’re 15 minutes away from the start of the afternoon session. Another three hours coming up.

1324 Here’s a quick look at some of the work our awesome photographic partner Spacesuit Media has been up to today!

1320 A look outside the window shows that the rain is now starting to come down. Umbrellas up in the grandstand. That said, the fans on the pit walk are still out in force, undeterred by a little rain. As my old school sports teacher used to say: “You’re not made of sugar, you won’t melt!”

1254 For those of you at Donington Park – the fan pit walk has been brought forward by 10 minutes. It will now start at 1305.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: The @FIAformulaE Pit Walk today will start at 1.05pm and not 1.15pm as previously advertised! pic.twitter.com/6R7wEH63wL — Donington Park (@DoningtonParkUK) August 25, 2016

1229 During the break, we’ve just been down to see the Techeetah boys after their impressive start to testing. Spirits seem very high there – a world away from the middle of last season at Team Aguri. Stay tuned for some pieces on the team on Current E.

1159 The chequered flag is now out, so that’s it for the morning. Daniel Abt tops the timesheets for ABT ahead of Heidfeld and Prost, the latter ending his session in the kitty litter. Time for lunch!

1155 Red flag. Seems that Prost is in the gravel. That might be it for the morning session…

1152 Abt edges us closer to the 1:29s – he goes 0.022 seconds faster than Heidfeld to take P1. Prost is up to third for Renault e.dams. Around half the field is currently out on-track completing laps.

1147 Di Grassi is now second-fastest for ABT. Da Costa has risen to fourth for Andretti – a far cry from the American team’s struggles in testing last year when it could barely complete a lap without stopping!

1144 As we approach the final 15 minutes of the session, Heidfeld returns to the top for Mahindra. He’s half a second clear of d’Ambrosio at the moment and going faster still. Can we dip back into the 1:29s?

1134 Seems pretty quiet today. At NextEV, Turvey has left for a race in Japan with Super GT; Piquet will be heading off a little later today for a race in the US. Elsewhere, it’s all pretty slow. 25 minutes until lunchtime.

1123 D’Ambrosio smashes the existing benchmark to go P1 for Dragon, 1.4 seconds clear of the field with a lap of 1:30.929.

1121 Nelson Piquet isn’t due to get behind the wheel of the NextEV car today, but we’ve just spotted him in his race suit. Dean Stoneman is currently P15 for the team at the moment.

1117 Sam Bird returns to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1:32.379, three-tenths clear of Rosenqvist. Seems a little foggier outside, but the forecast says rain will hold off until 3pm.

1109 Felix Rosenqvist is currently the only driver on-track at the moment. Heidfeld continues to lead narrowly ahead of Lopez and Bird.

1101 One hour left in the morning – conditions have been pretty stable, no sign of the forecast rain. Heidfeld has just gone quickest for Mahindra.

1047 Bird is now quickest for DS Virgin ahead of Buemi and di Grassi. Our three title fighters in London are enjoying the conditions here at Donington, it seems!

1042 Fastest man from Wednesday Jean-Eric Vergne has just risen to P1 on the timesheets, six-tenths of a second clear of Buemi.

1033 Buemi quickly pops into P1, only for d’Ambrosio to bounce back and take it away again. Now just five seconds off the pace from Wednesday.

1029 Times are quickly improving as the track dries. Jerome d’Ambrosio has just displaced Felix Rosenqvist at the top, but there’s lots of blue (personal best) and purple (session best) on the timing screens.

1020 A new fastest lap courtesy of Harry Tincknell in the Jaguar. We’re still about eight seconds off the pace from yesterday. Still looks pretty drab out there…

1017 Lopez is now fastest for DS Virgin. Abt is P2 and on a fast lap.

1010 No cars on-track at the moment… seems the weather might be curtailing running for much of the day. Still a good number of fans in the grandstand on the main straight though, which is cool to see.

1000 One hour down at Donington. Here’s how the timing screens are looking.

0948 Harry Tincknell is venturing out for a run in the Jaguar, having completed just a single lap this morning. He’s a Le Mans class winner and part of the new Ford Chip Ganassi Racing squad in the FIA World Endurance Championship, so has plenty of experience and pedigree. Jaguar has to choose between Tincknell, Alex Lynn and Mitch Evans for the seat – a tough call!

0941 Frijns drops in two quick laps for Andretti to go fastest. He’s the first man under the 1:40 mark.

0935 Green flag back out again.

0934 Stoneman is enjoying his first Formula E test today with NextEV. He’s raced everything from cars to powerboats and been successful – nice to see him in the paddock!

0927 We’ve got another red flag… but everyone is back into the pits. Unclear what happened there. There’s a recovery vehicle at the hairpin though.

0922 Fastest lap of the day so far comes courtesy of Lucas di Grassi – albeit 13 seconds off the new lap record set by Jean-Eric Vergne on Wednesday. Somehow I doubt today will be about optimum lap time…

0917 Lopez returns to the pit lane and we’re now back to green. Apparently the heavy rain is coming in an hour or so. We might see a few teams heading out early in a bid to get in some laps.

0906 First red flag of the day. Lopez is sat in the gravel.

0903 There isn’t too much standing water or any spray being kicked up by the cars are they complete their first laps – the track is more greasy and slippery than anything. Still plenty to be learned then – good news for us!

0900 The morning session is green. A handful of drivers are already heading out on-track, undeterred by the conditions.

0857 We’ve got two new drivers testing today. Indy Lights driver and 2010 Formula 2 champion Dean Stoneman is hopping into the NextEV, while Ford WEC racer Harry Tincknell is in at Jaguar for his evaluation alongside Adam Carroll.

0850 Just like yesterday, teams will get six hours of running split into morning and afternoon sessions.

Morning: 0900-1200

Afternoon: 1400-1700

Any fans braving the weather today will also get access to the pit walk from 1315 to 1345.

0845 Here is the driver entry list for Thursday.

ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport – Lucas di Grassi/Daniel Abt

Andretti – Robin Frijns/Antonio Felix da Costa

Dragon – Loic Duval/Jerome d’Ambrosio

DS Virgin – Sam Bird/Jose Maria Lopez

Renault e.dams – Sebastien Buemi/Nico Prost

Jaguar Racing – Adam Carroll/Harry Tincknell

Mahindra Racing – Nick Heidfeld/Felix Rosenqvist

NextEV – Dean Stoneman

Techeetah – Jean-Eric Vergne/Ma Qinghua (afternoon only)

Venturi – Stephane Sarrazin/Maro Engel

0840 Good morning from a very grey and dreary Donington Park. Overnight rain has left the track damp, and the sky looks fit to burst. Let’s see what running we manage today.

Luke Smith