Mitch Evans claimed pole position in Rome for the 13th round of the 2022/23 Formula E season, after defeating team-mate Sam Bird in the final.
The ‘King of Rome’ was sensational during qualifying at the Rome E-Prix and always looked like the favourite for pole, as Jaguar TCS Racing locked-out the front row of the grid. Elsewhere, championship contenders Pascal Wehrlein and Nick Cassidy endured a problematic qualifying.
With the top four drivers in the standings being in the title fight, it excitedly meant each qualifying group featured two championship protagonists at the baking hot Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR. Unlike in Portland, qualifying is hugely important in the Italian capital, given that it’s a more traditional Formula E venue where overtaking can be difficult.
Group A featured both Drivers’ Championship leader Jake Dennis and third-placed Wehrlein, who topped free practice 1 on Friday. The group also included reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne, who broke his front wing in the opening minutes after colliding with the wall at Turn 7.
Following the opening hot laps, it was Dennis who led the group, ahead of Bird, rookie Sacha Fenestraz and André Lotterer. Concerningly, Wehrlein found himself in sixth and, crucially, outside the all-important top four with three minutes remaining.
In what could be a huge moment in this season’s championship story, Wehrlein failed to claim a spot in the top four after claiming fifth on his final push lap, meaning he’ll start on the fifth row.
Dennis, though, did finish in the top four thanks to his final flying lap, which was enough for third. Fenestraz topped the group on a 1:38.912, ahead of Sam Bird, Dennis and Maximilian Günther. However, Dennis, Bird and Vandoorne were all placed under investigation for failing to slow under a yellow flag on their final lap, caused by a lock-up for Sérgio Sette Câmara.
It was soon confirmed that Dennis’ final lap wouldn’t be deleted, unlike Bird’s and Vandoorne’s which were. This initally demoted the Jaguar driver outside the top four and promoted Wehrlein into it – a huge momentary relief for the German and Porsche. Following an appeal by Jaguar though, Bird’s and Vandoorne’s times were then reinstated again, demoting Wehrlein back to fifth.
Following the eventful opening group, Group B featured second in the standings Cassidy and fourth-placed Evans, who topped free practice two by over six-tenths of a second. Evans topped the session halfway through from Sébastian Buemi, Jake Hughes and René Rast. Cassidy could only manage sixth following his opening push lap, leaving the Kiwi with work to do.
Unfortunately for Cassidy, he didn’t get the opportunity to improve following a red flag with 18 seconds remaining. Hughes had a huge high-speed shunt after losing the rear on the exit of Turn 6, caused by hitting a bump. Once the rookie hit the bump in the road, he was a complete passenger, in what was a heavy double-impact that scattered debris across the circuit.
Due to causing the red flag, Hughes was demoted from third to 11th, promoting Edoardo Mortara into the top four. Evans unsurprisingly topped the group on a 1:39.300, ahead of Buemi. Rast and Mortara completed the top four and progressed to the quarter-finals. Hughes’ chassis was significantly damaged, causing doubts whether his car will be ready for the race.
Ahead of the first quarter-final, the track temperature had risen to 48°C, a staggering 10°C more than it was at the start of Group A. The first duel saw Dennis go against Bird, who quickly jumped back into his Jaguar I-TYPE 6 following the team’s successful appeal. Bird was on absolute fire and eliminated the championship leader, something which could be huge for his team-mate.
The second quarter-final saw Group A pacesetter Fenestraz against Günther, with the latter having been targeting a good qualifying at Maserati’s home race. Unfortunately for Günther and Maserati, Fenestraz qualified for the semi-finals after going over four-tenths quicker than the German.
Following Hughes’ heavy crash, Rast was McLaren’s sole hope in the duels. The German went against Buemi, in what was a difficult match-up to predict. This was proven by their lap times, as Buemi went 0.039s faster than Rast to progress to the semi-finals for Envision.
Targeting to meet Buemi in the semi-finals was Mortara and Evans, with the latter having been the clear favourite in the final quarter-final. Evans was sublime and defeated Mortara with relative ease, after posting a strong 1:38.460, the quickest time seen in the quarter-finals by almost four-tenths.
Into the semi-finals and Fenestraz went against Bird for a place in the final. Nothing separated the pair through the opening two sectors; however, an error in the closing corners for the Nissan driver saw Bird progress to the final with ease. The Briton’s time was almost a second quicker than Fenestraz’s, but it was still three-tenths slower than what Evans did in the quarter-finals.
The second semi-final was an all-Jaguar powertrain affair, as Buemi went against Evans. The factory Jaguar driver was simply too strong for Buemi and defeated him by two seconds, after setting another sensational lap time. Evans’ time was remarkably just one-thousandth slower than his lap from the quarter-finals, in what was a showing of deadly consistency.
It meant the final was guaranteed to be a Jaguar TCS Racing front row lock-out, much to the team’s delight. Evans was the undeniable favourite for pole, especially after Bird lost over a second in the middle sector. This saw Evans breeze to his second pole position of the 2022/23 season, after setting a modest 1:39.089.
It sets the Kiwi up perfectly for this afternoon’s race, as he looks to repeat his double Rome masterclass from last season. Bird will, of course, start alongside his team-mate on the front row, with Fenestraz in third and Buemi in fourth. Crucially for the championship, pole position saw Evans awarded with three points, reducing his deficit to 29 points.
Elsewhere in the title fight, championship leader Dennis will start from seventh, with Cassidy in ninth and Wehrlein in tenth.
The race gets underway in Rome this afternoon, at 14:03 GMT.
