JEAN ERIC VERGNE EDGES OUT EVANS IN DIRIYAH

Image Source: Formula E Media

January 27th, 2024

Jean-Eric Vergne claims a recording equalling 16th Formula E Pole Position as the two-time Champion edged out Jaguar’s Mitch Evans by only 0.072s for the second round in Diriyah. Vergne and Evans dominated their respective duels before the Frenchman chipped the Kiwi to the three extra championship points with the pole position in the overcast conditions in Saudi Arabia, with the 33-year-old achieving his first pole since Jakarta approximately two years ago.

The opening qualifying group saw Nick Cassidy push his TCS Jaguar to the limit finishing the session in first place as the man to beat. The young Kiwi was followed into the duels by Defending champion Jake Dennis, Pascal Wherlein and the second Jaguar of Mitch Evans. McLaren’s Jake Hughes and Envision’s Robin Frijns weren’t able to replicate the speed of Mexico, finishing fifth and sixth respectively in Group A. The returning champion of Nyck De Vries was the slowest of the four Mahrinda-powered cars as both the Mahindra and ABT Cupra teams struggled to connect an entire lap together in Group A as they locked out the bottom four places.

The second qualifying group saw the experienced trio of Sam Bird, Stoffel Vandoorne and Sebastian Buemi miss the duels after falling two-tenths short of the cut-off time set by the Andretti of Norman Nato, resulting in all three starting outside the top 10. Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest time of the session with a 1.12.856s, as Brazilian Sergio Sette Camara shocked with placing his ERT into second, just edging out Gunther in the leading Maserati and Nato, with less than a tenth of a second separating the four drivers.

Envision, Nissan and ABT Cupra locked out the sixth, seventh and eighth row on the grid respectively, just falling short of the duels in Saudi Arabia and will be looking for more speed in the E-Prix before they can improve for the third round of the championship tomorrow in Diriyah. Antonio Felix Da Costa was once again a shadow of his former self with a qualifying session to forget, finishing up 9th in group B in the TAG Hauer Porsche, while teammate and championship leader Pascal Wherlein progressed through to the Duels. Furthermore, Rookie Jehan Deruvala struggled in the Maserati after falling over a second short of the fastest time and will line up alongside De Vries on the final row of the grid.

The Quarter-Final duels saw various upsets with Mitch Evans comfortably managing his teammate Cassidy, while Sergio Sette Camara beat the Maserati of Gunther by a comfortable four-tenths of a second. The championship leader Pascal Wherlein was beaten by defending champion Jake Dennis setting the Englishman against Evans for the semi-finals. DS Penske’s Vergne progressed through after setting the fastest time of the quarter-finals with a 1.12.164s to face Sette Camara for a spot in the final.

Mitch Evans was the first driver to book his spot in the final fight for the pole, defeating the reigning champion of Jake Dennis by a tenth of a second, as Jean-Eric Vergne popped Sette Camara’s dream opportunity for pole position as the two-time champion of Vergne continued to improve going faster than his Quarter final time before grabbing Pole Position.

TOP 10 RESULTS:
1. #25 J.Eric Vergne

2. #9 M.Evans

3. #25 J.Dennis

4. #3 S.Sette Camara

5. #17 N.Nato

6. #94 P.Wherlein

7. #37 N.Cassidy

8. #7 M.Gunther

9. #8 S.Bird

10. #5 J.Hughes

The Second round of the ABB Formula E championship is set to get underway at approximately 3 am AEDT, 6 pm local time.