Nissan’s Norman Nato took his first-ever pole position in Formula E after a sensational performance in qualifying for the Miami E-Prix.
The Frenchman, who has been under pressure so far for underperforming in comparison to team-mate Oliver Rowland, drove superbly all the way through to line-up first for the first time.
Andretti’s Jake Dennis was second, with Antonio Felix da Costa third.
Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns took an impressive fourth, with Nyck de Vries fifth for Mahindra Racing.
Stoffel Vandoorne will line-up sixth, with Lola’s first appearance in the top 10 secured by Lucas di Grassi, who will be joined on the fourth row by Cupra Kiro’s David Beckmann.
Pascal Wehrlein was ninth, with the second Mahindra of Edoardo Mortara 10th.
How qualifying unfolded
GROUP A
The Porsche powertrains looked strongest in the first group, with da Costa, Dennis and Beckmann locking-out the top three with just two minutes to go.
Rowland, Evans and Hughes – all usually-strong qualifiers, were opting to leave it late for a push lap, as their places in the duels looked under threat.
Sebastien Buemi was displaced out of the top four by Mortara, with Rowland still a tenth down with 20 seconds to go.
On his final lap, the Rowland aborted his lap, condemning him to a trickier grid spot, the Nissan driver telling his team over the radio he had “no confidence” in the car.
Vandoorne sent himself into the duels as the flag fell, with da Costa, Dennis and Beckmann all keeping their places – the young German impressively making it into the knock-out stages for the first time.
GROUP B
Cassidy, looking to keep his momentum from his fastest time in FP1, overcooked it into the temporary chicane on his second run.
On his third, he continued to push the limits even more, going wide in sector two.
At the end of the group, di Grassi went quickest, with Nato, de Vries all in the top four.
Pascal Wehrlein, Cassidy, Taylor Barnard and both DS Penskes were all out, with Frijns going top at the very end.
The number of high-profile drivers eliminated begged the question: given the peloton nature of the race is likely to bring, do any of the drivers care too much about the qualifying result?
DUELS
The first duel pitted the Season 8 and 9 champions together – Vandoorne v Dennis.
The Brit set a 1:23.000s, the fastest time of the weekend so far, with the Maserati unable to make a dent into it, finishing half-a-second away.
The ultimate contrast in the second quarter-final, with Porsche customer Kiro driver Beckmann against the works team with da Costa at the wheel, and the experience showed with the Portuguese able to coast to a 1.23:229s, slower than Dennis’ time but over a second up on Beckmann.
Quarter-Final 3 saw Lola’s first appearance in the duels, with di Grassi against Nato’s Nissan. The Frenchman finished-up with a 1:23.030s, seven tenths ahead of the Brazilian.
The final duel was an all-Dutch affair with Frijns against de Vries, which promised to be perhaps the tightest match-up of the afternoon. The Envision went quickest with a 1:23.120s, after a brilliant final sector which saw him edge ahead of the Mahindra by a tenth.
SEMI-FINALS
The first semi placed da Costa against Dennis, the latter seeming to be really on top of his game this weekend.
The Andretti started his lap in scrappy fashion, looking like da Costa will be gifted his place in the final, but an amazing recovery from Dennis in the second and third sectors saw him overcome the Porsche by just under a tenth, to secure his first final head-to-head appearance since Berlin last season.
The second would be between Frijns and Nato. Nato’s superior machinery helped him make it through to the final by three tenths, guaranteeing a first front row appearance since Rome in 2021.
FINAL
Dennis was to go first, and immediately left no tarmac untouched, kicking up the dirt twice in sector one. Nato was up six thousandths, with Dennis keeping neat and tidy in the middle, and set a 1:23.166, but Nato’s smoothness which showed all session saw him claim pole by 0.129s.
The highly-unusual grid order helps to promise an intriguing E-Prix at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
