Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein took pole position for the opening round of the FIA Formula E World Championship in São Paulo.
The reigning World Champion nabbed the top spot under the nose of Nissan’s Oliver Rowland with both men looking exceedingly strong and quick all session.
Andretti’s Jake Dennis was third, with DS Penske’s Maximilian Günther fourth.
Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa was fifth, and Nissan’s Norman Nato sixth.
Edoardo Mortara vindicated confidence in Mahindra’s new powertrain with seventh, and DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne was eighth.
Maserati’s Stoffel Vandoorne was ninth, with Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy 10th.
How qualifying unfolded
GROUP A
The first group of the season was filled with some top names, including Rowland, da Costa, Cassidy and Dennis, with one always at risk of dropping out.
With around five minutes to go, Dennis set the benchmark with a 1:11.732s effort, with da Costa and Rowland a tenth behind.
Cassidy would ultimately be the one who lost out, narrowly falling short of Vergne, who finished fourth.
GROUP B
The big moment of Group B was Mitch Evans’ Jaguar breaking down for the second day in a row, the car suffering a rear brake issue.
With just over seven minutes left on the clock, the session was red-flagged.
The perennial top qualifiers last season, the team matched its Season 10 record of only one non-duels appearance for both of its cars in the first race.
To compound Evans’ misery, he was placed under investigation for moving forward after marshals had already approached the car, in the hope he could move himself back to the pits.
When the session resumed, Robin Frijns set the first big benchmark but Wehrlein stormed ahead with a 1:11.717, almost five-tenths ahead of the Dutchman’s Envision.
With two minutes to go, Mortara was in second, with Vandoorne third and Nato fourth.
Dan Ticktum briefly got himself into the top four, but the Englishman was displaced by Nato, the Kiro only one thousandth behind. But with seconds to go, Günther stormed into the top four, displacing Vandoorne.
DUELS
The first duel was a mouthwatering prospect, with Rowland going up against da Costa.
Despite complaining over team radio about his steering, Rowland took the win with a 1:10.047s time, around five hundredths clear of the Porsche man.
The second duel pitted Dennis up against Vergne, the Andretti man looking stronger over one lap, a problem that plagued the team throughout the previous campaign, with DS Penske showing a lot of promise in that department.
Vergne set a time of 1:10.486s, but Dennis stormed into the next round by nearly half a second.
Duel number three placed Günther against Mortara, the Mahindra powertrain looking a millionfold better than last year’s.
Some tiny errors from the Swiss deemed him out of contention, with Günther’s 1:10.140s effort enough.
After the duel, replays showed that Günther, exiting the pit lane, almost crashed into his team-mate, as he crossed the line to finish his lap.
The fourth duel placed the second Nissan of Nato against reigning champion Wehrlein. Nato crossed the line with a 1:10.114s time, but Wehrlein sneaked through by a tenth.
SEMI-FINALS
Semi-final number one was an all-English affair with Rowland against Dennis.
The Nissan driver looked committed through the first sector, and posted a 1:09.905s time, with Dennis bearing down all the time, but short by just one-thousandth of a second.
In semi-final number two, it was now an all-German head-to-head with Günther against Wehrlein, and the reigning champion sailed through by just under five tenths with a 1:09.859s time.
FINAL
Rowland started his lap superbly, closely followed by Wehrlein, but fell a tenth behind midway.
The Nissan man clocked a 1:09.950s time, but Wehrlein blitzed his final sector and took pole position by a tenth.
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