Mitch Evans and his Jaguar TCS Racing will start from the Julius Baer Pole Position, as the Kiwi managed to break track records on his way to the first place starting slot. The points for pole also keeps Evans in the championship battle, as well as giving the team additional points for the Teams’ Standings which Jaguar could wrap up this weekend.
Evans went up against Norman Nato (Andretti) in the final, however Nato will start 12th on the grid after receiving a 10-place grid penalty overnight for reaching three reprimands. Instead, NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes will start from the front row alongside Evans.
The big stories from the session was Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy and Pascal Wehrlein missing the Duels, as the two fight for the championship in the four remaining races. Cassidy, who is leading the standings, will start 11th, with Wehrlein in eighth for the race in just a few hours.
Final
The last fight was between Evans and Nato, two close friends. Evans has appeared in two Finals this year and finished fourth from 20th on the grid in Portland last year. However, this is Nato’s first appearance in a Duel final, having never taken a pole in Formula E.
Despite looking rapid in the first sector, Nato wasn’t able to be on the same level as Evans who sailed through to secure his eighth pole position.
Semi Finals
Mitch Evans went up against Jake Hughes in a close fight, but it was Evans who guaranteed himself a spot on the front row as he set the fastest time of the whole weekend.
Then it was the turn of Frijns and Nato, but a small mistake from the Envision Racing pilot meant that Norman Nato sailed through. Despite taking part in the final, Nato has a 10-place grid penalty for reaching three reprimands this season so won’t start from that first place slot.
Quarter Finals
First up in the quarters was Mitch Evans and Lucas di Grassi. Between the two of them they have a combined 234 starts, and 25 race wins but there could only be one winner and that was Evans. The Jaguar driver is the only one of the top four championship contenders to progress into the Duels, and will be hunting those additional three points.
Next was Jake Hughes and Edoardo Mortara. Both drivers have got a pole position this year, but despite a flying start to his lap, Mortara made a big mistake to completely ruin his one shot lap. Like we have seen from a few drivers, he ended up down an escape road and re-entering the track through the circuit’s drag strip.
Robin Frijns and Antonio Felix da Costa, former teammates, went to battle next. This was Da Costa’s third consecutive Duel and for Frijsn it ended a five-race run without a Duel stage appearance. The Season 6 champ Da Costa managed to make a mistake in the final corner, sending Frijns through in his Envision.
Finally it was the turn of Dan Ticktum and Norman Nato. For the ERT of Ticktum, this was his first Duels appearance of Season 10 and he was the last full-time driver to get a chance in the top eight shootout. Unfortunately, his Duels appearance was short-lived as Nato progressed through.
Group A
There was a big shock in the first group, as championship leader Nick Cassidy was knocked out and failed to make it through to the Duels. By the chequered flag, the Jaguar driver was down in eighth with a time 0.261s off the best of Hughes.
For the top four, it was Jake Hughes who went quickest with Mitch Evans just 0.002s behind. Sergio Sette Camara of ERT was in third, however no sooner had the group qualifying ended, he was placed under investigation for overpower in release and impeding. As a result, his lap times from laps four to nine were deleted, chucking him out of the Duels.
Lucas di Grassi finished in fourth, and Sette Camara’s penalty enabled Edoardo Mortara and his Mahindra to jump up into the Duels.
Evans also took a trip through the grass, as his Jaguar became a part-time lawn mower, however, he was able to recover and go top of the pack with just over a minute to go.
Jean-Eric Vergne had a nightmare end to his session too. The two-time champion was already bottom of the times, but was then sent spinning after avoiding an accident with Sette Camara who was going slow on the racing line.
Group B
For the second qualifying group, Dan Ticktum went to the top as the ERTs look super quick over one lap pace. Behind him was Da Costa, who will be hunting a third win in four races, with Robin Frijns in third. Norman Nato continued his impressive run of form to qualify for the Duels, despite the Andretti driver having to serve a 10-place grid penalty for today’s race.
With his biggest championship rival out of the Duels, all eyes were on Pascal Wehrlein to see what he could do. Unfortunately he wasn't able to put the lap time together, and missed out on the chance to score an additional three points for pole.
Caio Collet was able to outqualify his teammate Sacha Fenestraz in his first qualifying session, with the Brazilian making his Formula E debut this weekend as he replaced an unwell Oliver Rowland.