NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes continued his excellent qualifying form with a superb pole position for this afternoon’s second Misano E-Prix.
Hughes qualified fourth yesterday but was disqualified, sending him to the back of the grid, and the Brit will be keeping his fingers crossed for better luck this time, as his calm, composed and blisteringly fast driving across the session saw him overcome DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne in the final duel.
Pascal Wehrlein, who finished at the back yesterday after a tangle with Vergne, lines-up third, with Nico Müller an impressive fourth. Hughes’ team-mate Sam Bird is fifth, boosting McLaren’s chances even more, with Stoffel Vandoorne sixth, Robin Frijns seventh and Nick Cassidy eighth.
Jake Dennis who finished second in yesterday’s race after starting 17th, will be hoping for a win after qualifying ninth, with yesterday’s victor Oliver Rowland completing the top 10.
Antonio Felix da Costa, disqualified after sensationally winning yesterday, has it all to do if he hopes to win today, the Portuguese starting at the very back.
GROUP A
Max Günther and Vergne were the early pace-setters, with Nyck de Vries also looking handy, but ultimately, it would be Nick Cassidy leaving it late to take top spot, with Robin Frijns – who was quickest in FP3 – second, with Nico Müller third and Vergne fourth.
Yesterday’s eventual winner Oliver Rowland, Max Günther and Antonio Felix da Costa were the most high-profile drivers eliminated from the group.
GROUP B
Jake Hughes’ stunning one lap form continued by topping the second group, over a tenth ahead of Wehrlein. Bird managed to make it through to the duels in the final moments, taking third ahead of Vandoorne.
Dennis would yet again fail to make it through, missing out by the narrowest of margins, and would be joined by yesterday’s pole-sitter Mitch Evans.
QUARTER-FINALS
The first of the duels was not even close, as Müller blitzed Frijns by seven tenths of a second, the German just three hundredths shy of the one minute sixteens.
In Vergne verses Cassidy, both men broke that time barrier, but it would be Cassidy who, given the Penske’s single lap pace over the whole weekend, surprised everyone by pipping Vergne, but due to exceeding track limits, he would be quickly eliminated, sending the Frenchman into the semis.
Bird-Wehrlein was also an immensely-close duel, with the German scraping through ahead of the Englishman, the lap times continuing to tumble further down.
Hughes picked up where he left off on Saturday, getting himself into the semis with a blistering 1:16.413, six tenths ahead of Vandoorne.
SEMI-FINALS
Müller had no answer for Vergne in their semi-final duel, the ABT Cupra a whole second adrift of Vergne’s time, again proving the Penske will be a force to be reckoned with during the race.
Hughes overcame the challenge of Wehrlein, scraping through to the final by only five hundredths, the boy from Birmingham out to show his worth after his disappointing disqualification compromising his race yesterday.
FINAL
In what was the match-up that some would have expected after yesterday’s session, Hughes took a stunning pole position with a time of 1:16.538, two tenths ahead of Vergne. With two unlikely teams on top form this weekend, the prospect of a hugely-interesting E-Prix is exceedingly high.
