Mahindra Racing have achieved their first Julius Baer Pole Position since Berlin 2024, thanks to the efforts from Edoardo Mortara around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Swiss pilot kissed the wall during his Final Duel run, but managed to beat DS PENSKE’s Maximilian Guenther for the honour of first place on the grid for this evening’s race.
This is Mortara’s fourth career pole position, and if he can convert it into the victory later today could become Formula E’s oldest race winner at 39-years-old.
Pascal Wehrlein will start third for Porsche, with Norman Nato having a strong quali to line-up fourth for Nissan and Taylor Barnard is fifth for DS PENSKE. Big names like championship leader Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing) will start down in 13th and reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland (Nissan) is 16th, with both missing out on the Duels.
Final
This final brought to an end a nine-race streak of poles for Porsche and Jaguar TCS Racing Powertrains, as Maximilian Guenther took on Edoardo Mortara for pole. Mahindra’s last pole as team or powertrain supplier was Mortara’s pole back at Berlin in 2024, with Guenther also seeking his first points since the opening round in São Paulo.
Despite some small contact with the wall, it was Mortara who was the better of the two to start from that all-important P1 slot. He was able to get the job done, and will lead the pack as racing gets underway at 20:00 local time with the first PIT BOOST race of Season 12.
Semi Finals
Nato made his second Semi Final appearance since the beginning of last season, but he wasn’t able to beat Edoardo Mortara who sailed through to the Final of the Duels for Round 4. Despite missing out on a chance at pole, Nato will start ahead of his World Champion teammate Oliver Rowland for the third time in four races this season.
The second Semi Final was a repeat of last year’s first Duel Final, when Guenther beat Wehrlein to take pole and then won the race. It felt like history repeating itself, with the DS PENSKE driver guaranteeing a front row start when he beat the Season 10 champ to proceed to the Final with Wehrlein not having a lap that was as tidy.
Quarter Finals
The first battle was between two French compatriots, with Jean-Eric Vergne going against Norman Nato. These two have three Quarter Final Duel appearances between them this season, but neither of them have won a duel yet. However, it was Nato who progressed to the next stage of qualifying.
Following the pattern of two countrymen going up against one another, it was a battle of the Swiss with Nico Müller taking on Edoardo Mortara. Although Müller got his first pole in Miami last time out, it wasn’t to be today as Mortara sailed through with the better time.
Maximilian Guenther made his first Duel appearance of the season, despite two previous top-10 starts in Mexico and Miami. Having achieved pole here last year, Guenther made it into the Semi finals against Da Costa, who won from pole in the very first Formula E race in Saudi Arabia back in 2018.
Finally, it was Taylor Barnard versus Pascal Wehrlein. Barnard has the highest career Duel win percentage among drivers with multiple duel appearances -on 68%- and achieved his first career Julius Baer Pole Position. Yet, today it was Wehrlein who set the better lap and made his way through.
Group A
Edoardo Mortara was the best of his group, going top with a time of 1m17.378s. The Mahindra driver was joined in the Duels by Norman Nato, Nico Müller (who finished second but had a lap time deleted and moved down to third) and Jean-Eric Vergne.
However, one of the biggest stories from the session was that championship leader Nick Cassidy was forced to abort his lap and qualified down in seventh, behind Jake Dennis (Andretti) and Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) in fifth and sixth.
Group B
Pascal Wehrlein led the way in the second of the two groups, followed closely by Antonio Felix da Costa, and the two DS PENSKEs of Maximilian Guenther and Taylor Barnard.
Despite topping the timesheets in Free Practice 2, Dan Ticktum failed to get into the top four in his group and was joined by reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland in the knockout zone. Rowland has had a tough weekend, having felt ill earlier in the week and then crashed his Nissan during FP2 and damaged his suspension.
SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2026 Jeddah E-Prix, Rounds 4 and 5
Saudi Arabia has been a staple of the Formula E calendar since Season 5, and found a new home at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit last season. The double-header weekend promises plenty of action and the return of PIT BOOST, all whilst racing under the lights at night over February 13 and 14.
Race: Friday 13 February, 20:05 local/17:05 UTC
Free Practice 3: Saturday 14 February, 13:30 local/10:30 UTC
Qualifying: Saturday 14 February, 15:40 local/12:40 UTC
Race: Saturday 14 February, 20:05 local/17:05 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.
Formula E’s Evo Sessions return in Jeddah
The world’s biggest creators. The world’s fastest electric race car. EVO Sessions is back. After a legendary Season 11, we're taking the spectacle to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Don’t miss the next generation of drivers as they take on the GEN3 Evo — streaming live on YouTube, February 15.
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