Mercedes has completed the first running of its new Formula E car after an outing at Varano in Italy.
Stoffel Vandoorne and Edoardo Mortara shared driving duties across a three-day test beginning with a 50km shakedown last Wednesday.
Over the following two days the pair racked up a further 477km of running in the car the team is dubbing the Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01.
“When a new racing car comes to life for the first time and goes out onto the track, that’s always a very special moment,” said head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff.
“Not only have we reached an important milestone for our as yet young team, but we have also laid a solid foundation for further development.
“But there is still a lot of work to do before our race debut when the next season starts towards the end of this year.”
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With bases in Germany and the UK, the test marked not only the first time the team had run the car on track, but also the first time it had worked together.
“The first days of testing at Varano were a very important step in the development of our team,” explained Ian James, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Formula E.
We brought together experts from our different sites at Affalterbach, Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart, and at the end of a successful three days, they left as members of a team – it was the birth of the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team.
“In the coming weeks and months, many more milestones will follow on the way to our first race.”
Mercedes is set to join the Formula E grid next season (2019/2020), which begins in Saudi Arabia in December.
It will join a raft of other manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Nissan, and Jaguar who are already in the series, while Porsche will also join the fray next season.
Porsche completed a rollout of its Formula E contender early last month.
The current Formula E campaign is at the halfway point, with Rome hosting the next event on April 13.
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