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report pascal wehrlein tag heuer porsche formula e team season 11

QUALIFYING REPORT: Wehrlein and Porsche secure pole in São Paulo Formula E showdown

REPORT 07 Dec 2024 5 Mins

Pascal Wehrlein achieved back-to-back Julius Baer Pole Positions around the Anhembi Sambadrome for TAG Heuer Porsche.

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report pascal wehrlein tag heuer porsche formula e team season 11

TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein took the first Julius Baer Pole Position of Season 11, with the reigning champion starting the GEN3 Evo era in the best way possible. He will line up alongside the Nissan of Oliver Rowland ahead of Round 1 in São Paulo later today.

Describing his pole lap as “all or nothing”, Wehrlein is no stranger to starting from that first place grid slot in Brazil with this being his second consecutive pole position at the Brazilian circuit.

Jake Dennis (Andretti) will line up behind Wehrlein and Rowland, with Maximilian Guenther impressing on his debut with DS PENSKE to qualify in fourth. Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) will be starting in fifth alongside Nissan’s Norman Nato, with Edoardo Mortara seventh (Mahindra Racing) and Jean-Eric Vergne (DS PENSKE) in eighth and all making it through to the Duels for the first race of the new Formula E season.

WATCH: How to watch or stream Formula E's Sao Paulo E-Prix where you are

It was a troubled session for Jaguar TCS Racing, with none of their powertrains making it into the Duels and Mitch Evans having big problems early on. The Kiwi brought the session to a halt when he had a brake system warning in the group stages, and was forced to pull over and stop resulting in a red flag. He failed to set a time and will start at the back of the grid, with his teammate Nick Cassidy qualifying in 10th.

Final

It was another brilliant Duel, as Rowland and Wehrlein went head-to-head but there could only be one person on pole. Rowland started strong, going quickest in the first sector, but it was last season’s polesitter Pascal Wehrlein who made it back-to-back poles around the São Paulo circuit.

Rowland confessed to “overdriving” his Nissan in the final two corners of the lap, but it’s still a front-row start for the Yorkshireman as he looks to win the first race of Season 11 later today.

Semi-Finals

In an incredible Duels battle, just 0.001s separated Rowland and Dennis as they reached the chequered flag for the first Semi-Final. It was Rowland who guaranteed himself a front-row start, managing to just find the tiniest of margins to Dennis across the 350kW and all-wheel drive lap.

Dennis did report concerns of a puncture, and an issue with his steering wheel dash after the Semi Final, but overall was happy with a second-row start.

SYNC: Don't miss a minute of Season 11, sync your calendar to find out where to watch and how to buy tickets

The second fight for a place in the final was Guenther and reigning champion Wehrlein, with the Porsche driver looking at one with this fast and flowing circuit. In the end the Porsche driver, who started from pole here last season, set a lap almost half a second quicker than Guenther to get into the all-important final Duel.

Quarter-Finals

First up to battle for a place in the Semi Finals was Rowland and Da Costa. These two have both looked quick this weekend, but it was the Nissan driver of Rowland that went 0.060s quicker during his one-lap opportunity.

Quickly following them was Jake Dennis and Jean-Eric Vergne, with the two iconic American teams going up against each other in Andretti and DS PENSKE. Dennis emerged victorious in this Duel going 0.529s quicker than JEV, with the Season 9 champ continuing to look rapid around this 2.93km circuit.

Next was the turn of Guenther and Mortara, with DS PENSKE’s latest signing going the quicker of the two.

Finally, reigning champion Wehrlein performed under pressure when put up against Norman Nato to get into the Semi Finals. It was certainly close, with the gap only 0.122s between the Porsche and the Nissan, with both powertrains looking strong so far this season.

Group A

Dennis put down an impressive benchmark of 1m11.732s early on, which ended up being the best time of the session.

Da Costa also found himself going through to the Duels, with the Porsche pilot 0.159s off the time of Dennis. Oliver Rowland continued his fine form around the Anhembi Sambadrome to go third, with double-champ Vergne doing enough to get himself into the top four.

Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy had to settle for fifth, with last year’s São Paulo winner, Sam Bird, ending the session down in eighth.

Group B

Porsche’s Wehrlein looked happy around this Brazilian street circuit as he went quickest in the second group with a time of 1m11.717s – just beating that of Dennis beforehand. He was joined in the top four by Mortara, who kissed the walls on his way to second on the timing tower.

Maximilian Guenther and Nato also completed the top four, ensuring that both cars from DS PENSKE and Nissan made it through to the next stage of qualifying.

The session was briefly disrupted by a red flag, with the Jaguar of Mitch Evans coming to a stop in the second sector midway through the session. Understood to be a brake system error, the problem meant the Season 9 winner here wasn’t able to get a lap time in and will start from the back of the grid later today.

SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2024/25, Season 11, São Paulo E-Prix Round 1

Next up it's lights out, as we get ready to witness our first race of the new Formula E season at 14:00 local time. We can't wait for you to join us!

Race: Saturday 7 December, 14:00 local/17:00 UTC

View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.