Ticktum snatches first pole of Season 12 in rollercoaster Monaco E-Prix qualifying
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Cupra Kiro's Dan Ticktum took his first pole position of Season 12 in yet another enthralling Formula E qualifying session around the streets of Monaco.
Despite making contact with the wall multiple times on his duels laps, Ticktum held on from Mahindra's Nyck de Vries, who couldn't convert free practice pace into pole, and netted his second front row start of the season.
DS Penske's Maximilian Günther netted an excellent third position start, ahead of Jaguar's Mitch Evans, while the Porsche duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Müller rounded out the top six.
Envision Racing's Joel Eriksson would make it to the duels once again, starting seventh, ahead of Evans' teammate António Félix da Costa in eighth, while Citroën's Jean-Éric Vergne and Andretti's Felipe Drugovich rounded out the top 10.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Qualifying in Monaco
de Vries set the ball rolling for the two-day Monaco E-Prix weekend, topping both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 in the lead up to qualifying.
The second of the free practice sessions would see Lola's Zane Maloney go into the barriers at Massenet, Turn 3, leaving his team with plenty of work to do in the 55-minute gap between FP2 and the qualifying session.
Group A
The first 10 minutes of qualifying would feature the likes of Berlin pole sitters Pascal Wehrlein and Edoardo Mortara, two-time finals qualifier Taylor Barnard, Berlin E-Prix race winner Nico Müller.
Cupra Kiro's Dan Ticktum would feature in this phase of qualifying too, sporting a special blue livery themed by the upcoming "Masters of the Universe" film franchise.
With overtaking set to be more difficult on the tighter streets of Monaco, as compared to the Berlin Tempelhof Circuit, drivers looked to set more representative laps during the 10-minute session.
With under five minutes to go, only Mortara and Maloney were yet to make their way onto the circuit, as the team potentially focused on fewer prep laps and a single push lap towards the end.
As the clock ticked down, Ticktum set the quickest time, before being eclipsed by Wehrlein and then Müller, who laid down the gauntlet with a 1:28.886.
Meanwhile, Mortara would be out of his Mahindra car, and not setting a lap during the session at all. This would relegate him to the penultimate row of the grid, with Maloney's Lola still in the garage.
With the final seconds of Group A qualifying beckoning, Wehrlein upped his benchmark, setting a 1:28.832, going ahead of teammate Müller. Both of Andretti's Jake Dennis and DS Penske's Max Günther were the last to set their lap times.
Günther was able to set a strong lap of 1:28.860, getting through as the second quickest driver in the group, while Ticktum held on to make it to the duels by 0.150 seconds.
Several drivers were left frustrated at the end of the session, including Barnard and Envision Racing's Sébastien Buemi, who complained of a loss of power as he rounded the final corner. Mortara would not set a lap at all, with Mahindra citing a mechanical issue as the reason for not being able to go out on track.
Buemi would also remain under investigation from the stewards, for potentially impeding Günther in the final minutes of the session.
Through to duels: Wehrlein, Günther, Müller, Ticktum
Group B
This group would feature heavyweights in the form of Jaguar's Mitch Evans and António Félix da Costa, reigning champion Oliver Rowland, Citroën's Nick Cassidy, and de Vries.
Rowland would be the first to go onto a flying lap, however, a slide on the exit of Turn 1 would mean he backed off his lap. Teammate Nato set an early benchmark of a 1:29.709, before being eclipsed by over six tenths by Evans and Buemi's teammate Joel Eriksson.
However, it was de Vries who then perched himself atop the standings with two minutes to go, setting a 1:28.799 and continuing his speedy pace from the free practice sessions.
With just over a minute to go, four drivers were yet to set their first lap times, including championship contenders Cassidy and Rowland.
The Nissan man started his lap strong, however, Evans managed to set the quickest first sector as qualifying began to heat up. He was able to briefly make it into the top four as the chequered flag flew, but his lap time was not enough to make it to the duels. His biggest time loss came in the final corner, with Rowland clouting the wall on the outside of the corner.
Evans managed to better de Vries' best time by 38 milliseconds, while da Costa made it three Jaguar-powered cars in the top four, putting himself up into third in the group.
A late attempt from Felipe Drugovich brought him a tenth of a second away from Eriksson's lap time, however, he would end up fifth in the session.
Cassidy too wouldn't be able to make it through, finishing ninth in his group, and putting two championship contenders close to the rear of the field.
Through to duels: Evans, de Vries, da Costa, Eriksson
Duels Stages
With three Porsche-powered cars and three Jaguar-powered cars in the eight to qualify for the duels, qualifying was set to be a treat on the streets of Monaco.
Quarter finals
The first of the quarter finals saw Müller go up against Günther, on a circuit where neither team recorded a pole position in the past.
In what had the makings of a close duel, the DS Penske man appeared to be 18 milliseconds up as the drivers rounded the first sector. However, Günther was able to open up a gap of almost 0.150 seconds heading into the tunnel.
Although the Porsche man managed to initially claw back some time, Günther was able to up maintain his advantage into the final sector, stopping the clocks 0.188 seconds ahead of his rival, and advancing to the semi finals.
The second of the quarter finals saw Wehrlein and Ticktum, two speedy contenders go up against each other.
The Cupra Kiro man slowly opened up a gap to the championship leader, reaching two tenths of a second heading into the second sector. Despite Wehrlein briefly closing in, Ticktum opened up an advantage to the good of a quarter of a second, stopping the clocks 0.255 seconds ahead of Wehrlein's Porsche.
An in-form de Vries held Mahindra's best chance of taking pole against Jaguar's da Costa in the third quarter final duel.
The Jaguar man initially looked steady heading up to Turn 3, however, a moment of oversteer saw the Portuguese driver forced to take evasive action to avoid a crash. This cost him half a second, and the advantage only grew towards the one-second mark as both drivers approached the finish line.
In the final quarter final, Evans took on fellow Jaguar-powered Eriksson. The Envision man was initially able to open up a 17 millisecond advantage in the first sector, with Evans closing in.
The Jaguar man would open up an advantage of 0.150 seconds heading out of the tunnel, before the stopwatch would see him make it to the semi final, at 0.207 seconds to Eriksson.
With two Porsche drivers and one Jaguar driver eliminated in the quarter finals, it remained an interesting bet to see who would take pole around Monaco.
Through to semi finals - Günther, Ticktum, de Vries, Evans
Semi Finals
The first of the semi finals would see Ticktum go up against Günther's DS Penske, with the Cupra Kiro man looking to convert a third duels appearance in a row at Monaco into a potential pole position.
A moment of oversteer for the DS Penske driver cost him time, with Ticktum holding a tenth of a second as the drivers rounded the first sector.
As Günther attempted to make up time heading into Tabac corner, he made contact with the barrier, before going wide at the final corner. Ticktum too went wide off the Swimming Pool chicane, making contact with the wall. Nevertheless, he was able to eke out an advantage of 0.154 seconds, progressing to the final.
The second semi final would see Evans go up against de Vries, in a high-stakes duel. Both drivers would make it through Turn 1 unscathed, however, the Jaguar man fell over a quarter of a second behind after the first sector.
Despite a brief moment at Portier corner that cost him time, the Mahindra man was able to maintain his advantage as the drivers crossed the line, setting up his bid for pole.
Through to final - Ticktum, de Vries
Final
The pole shootout between both Ticktum and de Vries would be a big boost to their campaigns, as they sat outside the top 10 in the standings, seeking a revival to their difficult starts in Season 12.
de Vries briefly made contact with the wall at Turn 1, however, he closed up the gap to 39 milliseconds off at the end of the first sector.
Although he lost time in the second sector, de Vries initially clawed back time through the Nouvelle chicane and Tabac, closing the gap to 27 milliseconds briefly.
Despite his best attempts, de Vries would not take pole away from Ticktum, who, despite clouting the wall off Casino Square corner, managed to take home three championship points to boost his campaign, and secure a second front row start in Season 12.
Classification - Monaco E-Prix qualifying (Round 9)
Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing)
Max Günther (DS Penske)
Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
Nico Müller (Porsche)
Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing)
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)
Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)
Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)
Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
Jake Dennis (Andretti)
Norman Nato (Nissan)
Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)
Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro)
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)
Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing)
Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)
