Audi Sport Abt Shaeffler team boss Allan McNish has said that he thinks BMW i Andretti are the team to beat going into the season opener in Saudi Arabia later this month.

The 2018-19 Formula E season will get under way in Ad Diriyah on December 15, and after their strong showing in pre-season testing, Audi believe their German rivals are ahead of them.

Not only were BMW top of the timesheets on each day of the official test but their long-run pace was amongst the best on the grid.

And McNish believes the pace they showed means that BMW are top of the pile.

He told Motorsport.com “BMW right now is the one that we look at and they are the one that we are going to be chasing as a principal point.

“You get a picture [from testing] of the main runners and riders that we know and expect to be strong, with probably the one that has jumped to the top of the pile being BMW.”

McNish also highlighted DS Techeetah as potential title challengers, and complimented Virgin Racing on adapting to their new Audi-supplied powertrain so quickly.

He said, “DS Techeetah is good. It was a fact that in the race run, we’re both up there.

“Virgin got on with the new car better than I expected. Because it is quite complex in a lot of ways, and they’ve worked with a different system. I would think they’ll be up there very, very soon.”