Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein is on pole position for today’s Monaco E-Prix, after a close-fought qualifying session with several drivers looking capable of taking the victory.
The German delivered when it mattered most, beating DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne in the final dual to take his 10th FIA Formula E pole position.
The Jaguar TCS Racing pair of Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans are third and fourth respectively, with both cars looking strong in the morning. The second Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne is fifth, Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi sixth, Antonio Felix da Costa seventh, Max Günther eighth, Robin Frijns ninth, and Jehan Daruvala tenth.
HOW QUALIFYING UNFOLDED
GROUP A
Evans picked up where he left off in the morning, waiting until the final seconds to snatch top spot by a whopping three tenths from Wehrlein, closely followed by Günther and da Costa. Rowland missed out and ended the group down in ninth, his Nissan’s one lap pace deserting him. Robin Frijns, who looked so strong in both practice sessions, narrowly missed the duals by two thousandths of a second.
GROUP B
Both DS Penskes made it through with Vandoorne top – almost two tenths ahead of Cassidy – and Vergne fourth, sandwiching Buemi. Last year’s pole-sitter Jake Hughes could only manage eighth, with Jake Dennis once again suffering a poor qualifying session in ninth. Taylor Barnard, a last minute replacement for the injured Sam Bird, will line-up last, with a credible lap, seven tenths shy of Dan Ticktum in 10th.
DUALS – QUARTER-FINALS
Quarter-Final 1 pitted Günther against Wehrlein, in what seemed to be a close match-up, but the Porsche stormed to the semis with a time half-a-second faster than the Maserati.
QF2 placed the weekend’s in-form man Evans against da Costa, a man bullish and focused about changing his qualifying issues, but the Portuguese would have no answer for the Kiwi, with Evans a huge six tenths ahead.
In QF3, a scruffy lap from Buemi ended his chances against Cassidy, whose lap was, by contrast, neat and tidy, three tenths ahead.
The final quarter-final would be between the Penske team-mates, and it would be Vandoorne who made it through by one tenth, with Vergne’s chance gone in the first sector after a mistake.
SEMI-FINALS
Evans looked set to make it to the final, but a mistake midway through his lap botched his chances, leaving Wehrlein to make it through by over four tenths, but with a second row start guaranteed, ruling out the Jaguar man would be unwise.
The second semi saw Vandoorne go deep into Saint Devote, leaving Cassidy with a huge chance to make it into the final, but after brushing the wall at the swimming pool section, the sister Jaguar also failed to make it through, giving the Belgian a chance to battle for pole position.
FINAL
Vandoorne had no match for Wehrlein, who took pole by over four tenths, with a time of 1:29.861. With Porsche, Jaguar and Penske powertrains all looking strong, it is a mouthwatering prospect for an open race later on.
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