de Vries takes pole in Mahindra 1-2, Dennis only 16th in shock London qualifying
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Nyck de Vries took pole position in an intense final qualifying session around London's ExCel Arena, in a Mahindra front row lockout. Edoardo Mortara finished second, ending up just under two tenths of a second away from a record fifth pole position of the season.
Behind him, championship leader Pascal Wehrlein finished third, with teammate Nico Müller in fourth, both drivers eliminated in the semi finals, while Jaguar's Mitch Evans rounded out the top five, eliminated in the quarter finals.
DS Penske's Taylor Barnard finished sixth overall in the session, closely followed by Citroën's Nick Cassidy and Cupra Kiro's Dan Ticktum, who rounded out the top eight in qualifying at the London E-Prix.
Jaguar's António Félix da Costa would start ninth for the race, ahead of Envision Racing's Sébastien Buemi in 10th, in what is set to be his final race start in the championship.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Qualifying in Formula E's Round 17 at London
Group A
The first group of qualifying featured two of the championship-contending trio, as Pascal Wehrlein and Mitch Evans both set their laps during this segment of qualifying. Evans' teammate António Félix da Costa also featured in this group, as Jaguar looked to seal the title in London.
The session would only see nine of the 10 cars emerging onto the track, though. Lola's Lucas di Grassi would not take part in his final qualifying session, after a prior stoppage in FP3 required Lola to replace components on his car.
There would be an early setback, though, for Nissan's Norman Nato, who stopped in the run-off at Turn 10 after an issue with his brakes. The Frenchman, though, managed to get going, avoiding the risk of a red flag in the 10-minute session.
Evans initially set the fastest time on the drivers' first flying laps, ahead of Wehrlein, Felipe Drugovich and Joel Eriksson's Envision. However, the times would shuffle quickly, with Mahindra's Nyck de Vries putting himself atop the leaderboard, from Evans and da Costa.
With under two minutes to go, Citroën's Nick Cassidy put himself up to second, crucially nudging Wehrlein out of the top four to make it to the duels.
A quick lap at the end elevated the Porsche man to second, a tenth off de Vries. With da Costa then unable to set a lap time quick enough to make it through, the four making it through to the duels would be decided.
Only eight cars set a representative lap time across the session, with Nato and di Grassi relegated to starts towards the rear of the field.
Through to duels stages: de Vries, Wehrlein, Cassidy, Evans
Group B
The second of the qualifying groups would feature Andretti's Jake Dennis, with the Briton eyeing a smooth qualifying session in order to keep himself in the fight for the title.
The unique case of this group would see all four British drivers fighting for their spots in the duels, with Cupra Kiro's Dan Ticktum, Nissan's Oliver Rowland and DS Penske's Taylor Barnard itching to make a mark in the final race of the season.
Dennis set the quickest first flying lap at a 1:08.977, ahead of the other Porsche of Nico Müller, with Zane Maloney putting the Lola up into third, alongside Barnard.
Mortara then eclipsed this time, setting a 1:08.616, with Envision's Sébastien Buemi putting himself up into second in his final qualifying session. Max Günther put himself up into third, despite facing a three-place grid drop for exiting the pits under red flags in FP3.
Heading into the final flying laps, a massive surprise would ensue, with Dennis unable to improve on his best lap time. This meant he was demoted all the way down to eighth in Group B, starting only on the eighth row of the grid for the race.
Müller and Barnard put themselves into the duels stages. For Ticktum, his sole flying lap at the end would put him up into third, much to the anguish of Andretti, their championship contender now starting on the backfoot.
The top 10 in Group B, though, were separated by under half a second, in what emerged as a closely contested session; Buemi in fifth was eliminated at the end by only 13 milliseconds.
Through to duels stages: Mortara, Müller, Ticktum, Barnard
Duels stages
Quarter finals
The first quarter final featured Cassidy and Wehrlein slugging it out for a place in the semi finals, and a chance to add on to his race start position for the latter.
Cassidy made contact with the barrier on the exit of Turn 9, giving away the crucial time to Wehrlein. By the time both drivers rounded the line, Wehrlein was over a second ahead, securing a spot in the semi finals.
The second quarter final featured Evans against de Vries, another crucial fight for the title contender. The Jaguar man emerged marginally quicker after one sector, although the time ebbed and flowed as the drivers rounded the second sector.
The Mahindra man extended his advantage in the final sector, though, knocking out Evans from the fight for pole.
Ticktum and Müller fought it out in the third quarter final, in a customer vs works team fight. The advantage swung the Porsche man's way, almost two tenths ahead after one sector. However, a major lock up from Ticktum heading into the chicane of Turns 10 and 11 saw him run wide, and giving away his chances of progressing further in the session.
Mortara and Barnard took on the final fight to make it into the semi finals. The Mahindra man furthered his quest for a record fifth pole in the season, sitting almost a tenth of a second to the clear after the first sector.
Despite Barnard closing in slightly, he wouldn't be able to make a dent in the Mahindra driver's advantage, as Mortara made it two cars by the Indian manufacturer into the semi finals.
Through to semi finals: Wehrlein, de Vries, Müller, Mortara
Semi finals
A unique semi final line-up would see championship leader Wehrlein face off against de Vries, while the other Porsche of Müller faced off against Mortara for a spot in the final.
The first of the quarter finals would be an interesting affair, with de Vries up on the Porsche man after one sector. Wehrlein closed down this margin in the second sector, sitting 51 milliseconds away with one sector to go.
Despite a slower final sector, de Vries earned a spot in the final, knocking out championship leader Wehrlein in another major shock, by the slender margin of 22 milliseconds.
Mortara had managed to overturn a slow start to the lap by going six hundredths of a second clear after one sector. While the gap narrowed to just 33 milliseconds after two sectors, it was briefly Müller in the advantage.
However, the Mahindra man kept his quest for a fifth pole of the season alive, finding time through the m
Through to final: de Vries, Mortara
Final
For the first time in the Gen3 era, both Mahindra drivers would face off against each other for pole position. The team would score three championship points, in their quest to secure third from Andretti in the standings.
With a Formula E record in sight, both Mahindra cars set off on their quest for pole. de Vries held the advantage after one sector, with the gap marginal between both drivers after two sectors.
The Dutchman extended his gap towards the end of the lap, taking his first pole of the season and marking a successful season that saw both Mahindra drivers secure atleast one pole in a season.
An exciting qualifying, and here's how it all panned out after qualifying for Round 17 in London.
Classification - Round 17 in London (qualifying)
Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing)
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)
Nico Müller (Porsche)
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)
Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing)
Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)
Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)
Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)
Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro)*
Max Günther (DS Penske)*
Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing)
Jake Dennis (Andretti)
Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Norman Nato (Nissan)*
Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)*
*- Grid penalty (three places each for Martí and Günther, 20 positions for di Grassi)
*- Nato did not set a valid lap time in qualifying, to start from the rear of the grid alongside di Grassi
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