NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes has taken pole position for this morning’s second race of the Shanghai E-Prix double-header.
The Brit looked strong all the way through the qualifying session, and nabbed top spot and three extra championship points with a lap of 1:13.921s, just one thousandth of a second ahead of DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
Antonio Felix da Costa was third [1:13.980s], flying the flag for Tag Heuer Porsche after Pascal Wehrlein was eliminated in the group stage. In what was his first duels appearance since returning to FIA Formula E, Nyck de Vries was an impressive [1:14.080], with the Jaguar TCS Racing pair of Nick Cassidy fifth and sixth respectively. Despite Jake Dennis once again struggling in qualifying, Norman Nato was able to hustle his Andretti to P7, with Oliver Rowland eighth, Jean-Éric Vergne ninth and Max Günther 10th.
HOW QUALIFYING UNFOLDED
GROUP STAGES
In Group A, Rowland went fastest with a time of 1:14.629s, and was joined by Vandoorne [+0.012s], Cassidy [+0.021s] and de Vries [+0.025s], fresh from his Driver of the Day performance in race one. Dennis’ one-lap woes were to burden him once more, missing the cut by over a tenth of a second, with Max Günther also failing to make it through to the duels, also picking-up an investigation by the stewards for impeding Dan Ticktum on a quick lap.
In Group B, Hughes set the benchmark and duly topped the table with a time of 1:14.308, followed by da Costa [+0.228], yesterday’s winner Evans [+0.277s], with Nato once again out-qualifying team-mate Dennis [+0.310]. Complaining of oversteer, Wehrlein could not find any more pace, and ultimately ended the group in seventh, a whole four tenths adrift. Yesterday’s pole-sitter Vergne also struggled, missing-out by three tenths.
DUELS
The first matchup saw Cassidy against Vandoorne, and the Kiwi struggled in the final sector, leaving the Belgian to sneak through by six thousandths after a brilliant final two sectors of his lap.
In de Vries versus Rowland, the Mahindra man, in his first appearances in the duels this season made it through, knocking-out the Nissan by just under two tenths.
Da Costa, looking determined after an ultimately disappointing day yesterday, lapped brilliantly to knock-out Evans, who has it all to do to repeat his performance from race one.
Hughes, always a threat when his car is hooked-up, knocked-out Nato by just under a tenth.
SEMI-FINALS
De Vries’ run would come to an end, two tenths shy of Vandoorne who became the first driver of the day to break into the 1:13.000s.
Hughes once again looked supremely fast, and a really fast first sector would help see him through to the final, knocking-out da Costa by under a tenth.
FINAL
Vandoorne looked quickest in sector one, but Hughes set a blistering middle sector to put him ahead, and with the final sector approaching, it would always be down to fine margins, and Hughes would take pole by one thousandth of a second to take his second pole position of Season 10, setting-up yet another mouthwatering clash for the race later on.
