Mitch Evans delivered Panasonic Jaguar Racing with its second Formula E pole position, beating BMW’s Maximilian Guenther to the top spot in qualifying for the Santiago E-Prix.
The New Zealander completed his initial qualifying run in the third group of runners, securing a spot inside the Super Pole shootout with a 1m 04.941s run – the fastest lap of the group stages.
Joined by Pascal Wehrlein, Oliver Turvey, Felipe Massa, Sebastien Buemi and Guenther in the top six, Evans was the final driver to post his 250kW lap – a 1m 04.827s run and an improvement of 0.114s on his previous personal best.
This lap placed him 0.275s ahead of Guenther who ended the session with the second-fastest time, securing a front-row starting position for the third race of the season.
Wehrlein, who was the initial pacesetter in qualifying, was third, matched by ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Massa who set an identical lap time to the German pilot.
In a surprise performance, Turvey delivered NIO 333 with fifth on the grid while Buemi was the slowest of the top six for Nissan e.dams, 0.982s shy of Evans’ pole lap.
Outside of the top six, Edoraro Mortara secured seventh in the second Venturi, narrowly missing out on a Super Pole appearance following a high-pace group qualifying run that was disrupted by a spin for Robin Frijns.
Nyck de Vries followed Mortara, fronting an 8-9 result for Mercedes EQ by outpacing team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne who emerged as the quickest driver in Group 1.
Antonio Felix da Costa completed the top 10 for reigning champions DS Techeetah, edging ahead of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne who only managed 11th from Group 2.
A heavy crash in Group 1 for Oliver Rowland prevented the FP2 pacesetter from setting a 250kW qualifying lap – the Briton taking 22nd in qualifying but 24th on the grid following a parc fermé breach – while Lucas di Grassi was only 23rd, spinning in Turn 9 moments after the prior driver’s accident.
Following his accident in FP2, Ma Qinghua failed to contest qualifying in the second NIO 333 car.
