The second group manufacturer test for the much vaunted Gen4 car took place amid three days of running this past week, with Porsche coming out on top with the quickest laptime. 

The test was conducted at the Circuit Andalusia near Almeria, southern Spain and The Race has uncovered several key details about the running. 

The introduction of a new high downforce bodywork kit was introduced with teams getting an opportunity to run the freshly delivered package on Friday. The modified design was delivered after changes to the initial design were made at the end of 2025. 

“We implemented a new update on the high downforce configuration,” the FIA’s Vincent Gaillardot told The Race last month. 

“This was because we wanted even more downforce. So, the final spec will run at the next combined test (Almeria). In Monteblanco, they only run the low downforce one.”

The higher downforce kit is made up of several aero parts, including a different front wing, larger rear wing, front winglets and trailing-edge fence additions. Another key objective of this test is known to have been pinpointing a reasonably definitive Bridgestone tyre. This is set to be a key in defining the specifics of the sporting format for Gen4 races. 

The Race understands that manufacturers were encouraged by the FIA to complete long runs and some dummy race running, although not all were able to achieve this over the course of the test. Nissan, Stellantis and Porsche took part in the simultaneous longer run to gather data, which will inform initial plans to draw up a sporting format for the 2026-27 season and beyond.

Porsche's quickest laptime of 1m47.873 was set by Nico Mueller in Thursday’s morning session. Mueller conducted the initial shakedown in Monteblanco in November too, while team-mate Pascal Wehrlein took over for the final sessions on Friday in his first experience of the car. 

Porsche, which played itself in slowly at the first Monteblanco test, appeared to have had a more positive experience last week as both Mueller and Wehrlein lapped at length. 

Nissan had both Benoit Treluyer and Sam Bird on hand, with the latter seeing his first action as both a Nissan driver and with the Gen4 test and development car. Bird set the best lap of the week with a 1m19.692s lap on Friday morning.

Stellantis, which will run its two Citroen and Opel brands from Gen4 onwards, is believed to have had at least one stoppage, although precisely why is not known. The Monteblanco test in November is known to have evidenced some challenges with the spec front-powertrain, but these are understood to have been rectified for the test last week.

Nick Cassidy performed on the first day of the test, although the Tuesday afternoon session was largely lost to a problem which stranded the car in the garage. Cassidy’s Peugeot WEC stablemate Theo Pourchaire and experienced hired hand Andre Lotterer took over from Daytona test-bound Cassidy for the final two days. 

Jaguar had both Stoffel Vandoorne and Sebastien Buemi at the test, with the latter getting his first action at the wheel on Friday after Vandoorne conducted the first two days.

Regular drivers Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix da Costa were not at the test, with the former not expected to be part of the initial testing as he is out of contract with the team at the end of the present season, and da Costa was absent because he travelled to the Rolex 24 test, where he is competing in an Inter Europol Competition LMP2 car.

Lola Yamaha ABT saw the least track time after what are believed to be a significant amount of teething problems with some aspects of its Gen4 powertrain, which continued to be worked on. Regular race drivers Zane Maloney and Lucas di Grassi both got seat time, with each getting a day and a half in the car, although their Tuesday and Thursday running was irregular.

A sneak peak at Formula E's next generation of car - Gen4 👀

📽️ Lucas di Grassi on Instagram pic.twitter.com/rppiFcu4R8

But they ended the test strongly on Friday with a best time of 1m49.529s set by Lucas di Grassi. This gave the British constructor a boost after what are believed to be powertrain oscillation issues and some electrical gremlins, which were fixed for the final two sessions of the week.

Mahindra did not take part in the test as it signed up late to the rules set as a manufacturer and have not yet taken delivery of its complete hardware. The Indian manufacturer is expected to get on track by the end of May.

The only real takeaway of note is that the manufacturers are still finding a great deal of performance with every lap and that the cars will get significantly faster as the aero kits are explored and manufacturers phase in complete, definite Gen4 hardware and software packages in the coming months. 

Times and laps completed  

1.        Porsche - Mueller/Wehrlein                                      1m47.873s (210 laps)

2.        Jaguar - Vandoorne/Buemi                                       1m49.322s (130 laps)

3.        Stellantis - Cassidy/Pourchaire/Lotterer               1m49.386s  (223 laps)

4.        Lola - Maloney/di Grassi                                           1m49.529s (105 laps)

5.        Nissan - Treluyer/Bird                                                1m49.692s (171 laps) 

Too early for any Gen4 KPIs 

After six days of manufacturer running, it is still way too early for any proper analysis of how each of the five manufacturers that have hardware are beginning their development programmes.

Generic pointers do exist, though. After a slow start in the first test, Porsche clearly had a positive Almeria week with the quickest time and the second most laps completed. Porsche also appeared to be reasonably reliable.

Stellantis looks to be in the next best shape and are presumed, like most of the manufacturers, to have brought key hardware updates for its Gen4 powertrain to Almeria. Cassidy lost a session on Tuesday afternoon, but this was rumoured to be because of a spec part aspect to the package.

Nissan accrued a decent amount of miles but didn’t show any defined pace compared to its opposition, being outpaced by Lola on the final day.

Lola’s early months with its Gen4 car have been challenging with several issues holding them back on getting miles under their belts. However, Friday salvaged some usefulness from the week with performance runs finally being able to take place with double push laps and an 11-lap long run being executed without issue on Friday afternoon.

More routine aspects of last week’s test were the group of three cars running in close proximity to try and get real-time data about the tow-effect that the Gen4 created and how this might inform the sporting format for the new era, which is expected to begin this December.

Friday saw all manufacturers conduct long runs, which is likely to have been a requirement from Bridgestone, as well as the FIA, in order to get an impending sign-off for the definitive rubber that will be used for Gen4 racing.