Wehrlein ekes out home pole position for Porsche in Berlin E-Prix

Wehrlein grabbed a pole at home | Credit: Luna Maas

Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein put himself in the box seat for a strong result on home ground, taking pole position for Round 8 in an epic finale with DS Penske's Taylor Barnard.

The gap between the two starring contenders ebbed and flowed as the 57-second lap went on, with the advantage initially swinging towards Barnard, then to the Porsche man, and then back and forth before Wehrlein put himself ahead by 0.038 seconds to take home pole.

Barnard would put himself and DS Penske on the front row for the second time in Season 12, with Citroën's Nick Cassidy set to start third, ahead of Envision Racing's Joel Eriksson.

Cassidy's teammate Jean-Éric Vergne managed to secure a best starting position with fifth, ahead of Lola's Zane Maloney and Andretti's Felipe Drugovich, who made it through to the duels once again.

Jaguar's António Félix da Costa was the slowest among those in the duels, and would start eighth, as the Mahindra duo of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara round out the top 10 for the Berlin E-Prix.

Group A

Qualifying for Round 8 in Berlin featured a series of big hitters, with new championship leader Edoardo Mortara, Round 7 winner Nico Müller, Nissan's Oliver Rowland and Cupra Kiro's Dan Ticktum in the mix once again.

However, it would be Andretti's Felipe Drugovich once again proving to be strong in his second consecutive Berlin E-Prix weekend, setting the first benchmark with a 58.493.

His benchmark, though, was beaten by Citroën's Nick Cassidy, who set a marginally quicker lap time at 58.440, eventually topping the session times, ahead of DS Penske's Taylor Barnard,

Cassidy's teammate Jean-Éric Vergne slotted into fourth, sitting only 22 milliseconds ahead of Round 7 pole-sitter Mortara, with fellow Swissmen Müller and Buemi sitting less than a tenth of a second away.

However, none of the trio would be able to make it up to the duels stage, the biggest shock being Mortara's elimination. The Mahindra man experienced a moment of oversteer into the final series of left-handers, clipping the wall on his final flying lap.

The likes of Rowland and Ticktum opted to go out on a set of used tyres, in a bid to tactically save their newer tyres for the race. As such, neither driver troubled the top of the timesheets, with Rowland ending up ninth in his group, while Ticktum propped up the Group A lap times.

Through to duels: Cassidy, Barnard, Drugovich, Vergne

Group B

Compared to Group A's qualifying, the 10-minute session for Group B's runners featured closer competition for the four coveted duels spots.

With the likes of Wehrlein, Mitch Evans and da Costa in the mix, it was expected to be a big session for all the drivers looking to make up ground in the championship.

It was di Grassi who initially set the quickest lap time, with a 58.856, however, this lap time was beaten by DS Penske's Max Günther, before Buemi's teammate Joel Eriksson and the other Lola of Zane Maloney set quicker lap times, duelling away at the top of the standings.

Only moments later, da Costa emerged at the top of the pile, setting a 58.439, over a tenth of a second quicker than Eriksson, while Nyck de Vries briefly slotted into fourth, keeping up hopes of atleast one Mahindra making it to the duels once again.

However, Wehrlein would manage to set a quicker lap time, snatching fourth in the group by only 14 milliseconds. The Dutchman's efforts to get one Mahindra into the duels would be in vain, as he too experienced oversteer heading into the final left-hander.

Meanwhile, Cupra Kiro's Pepe Martí did not set a representative lap time, stuck in the garage as the team navigated a technical issue, while Evans did not trouble the top of the timesheets either.

For the first time in the season, neither Mahindra drivers made it through to the duels stages, while Andretti's Jake Dennis would have to make to with seventh in his group, unable to match the pace of his teammate.

Through to duels: da Costa, Eriksson, Maloney, Wehrlein

Duels stage

Quarter finals

The first duel would see Barnard battle it out against Drugovich, in a battle between two youngsters looking to build on their strong qualifying pace.

The Andretti man would run slightly wider at Turn 2, giving up five hundredths of a second across his lap. However, any attempts to recover lap time would be unsuccessful, with Barnard stretching the advantage to almost half a second by the time both drivers completed their laps.

The second duel would see an intra-team duel between the Citroëns of Cassidy and Vergne, with the Frenchman not securing a pole yet in Season 12.

Despite Vergne opening up a slight advantage of seven hundredths through the opening corners, Cassidy managed to claw back the time through the second sector. A strong final sector meant the New Zealander opened up his advantage to 0.113 seconds, guaranteeing his spot in the semi finals.

The third duel featured two unfancied contenders with nothing to lose, with both Maloney and Eriksson separated by almost nothing through the first sequence of corners. The Envision man only managed to eke out four hundredths of a second across the next series of corners, before stretching this margin to 0.140 seconds by the time they crossed the line.

A high stakes duel between Wehrlein and da Costa rounded out the quarter finals, with both former teammates and fierce rivals duelling it out for a crucial spot in the semi finals.

The duo were separated by only 22 milliseconds upto Turn 6, however, Wehrlein was able to open up an advantage of over three tenths of a second as the lap went on. Utilising the Porsche's strengths, he was able to set a 57.373, making it into the semi finals and keeping his chances of a home pole position alive

Through to semi finals: Barnard, Cassidy, Eriksson, Wehrlein

Semi finals

All four drivers fancied their chances of progressing through to the finals and grabbing three points to further their campaigns.

The first semi final featured a match up between the Stellantis-owned brands, as Barnard and Cassidy faced off. Both drivers were only separated by hundredths of a second through most of the lap, but Cassidy running wide into the second of the three left handers cost him lap time, with the gap soaring to 0.152 seconds at the line.

As Wehrlein faced off against Eriksson, the stakes were high for the Envision driver, as he had nothing to lose against a championship contender.

However, Eriksson would go deep into Turn 2, conceding 0.15 seconds to the Porsche man right at the beginning of the lap. Despite briefly closing in by Turns 6 and 7, Wehrlein was able to eke out an advantage which swelled to over half a second by the time the drivers crossed the line.

Despite losing out, fourth would mark Eriksson's best starting position in Berlin, putting himself in strong position for a big finish later in the day.

Through to finals: Barnard, Wehrlein

Final

This would be the third finals appearance for Wehrlein and second for Barnard in Season 12, with Wehrlein looking to make up for missing out in Round 7. Barnard, on the other hand, lost out on pole in Mexico City due to track limits.

Both drivers, who had been driving superbly all session, were inseparable through the first series of corners. However, Barnard was able to eke out an advantage of 86 milliseconds, before Wehrlein utilised the strengths of the Porsche to swing the fortunes into his favour.

However, in an epic final sequence, the advantage briefly shifted towards the DS Penske man, with a hundredth of a second in his favour, before Wehrlein did enough to wrest back an advantage of 38 milliseconds as the drivers crossed the line, taking home three points in his championship. It would only be a continuation of the team's success all weekend, sporting the special Pink Pig livery.

This result would bring Wehrlein within one point of championship leader Mortara as the drivers would line up on the grid for the Berlin E-Prix.

Classification - Round 8 at Berlin (Qualifying)

1. Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)

2. Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)

3. Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing)

4. Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing)

5. Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)

6. Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)

7. Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)

8. António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)

9. Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing)

10. Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)

11. Max Günther (DS Penske)

12. Nico Müller (Porsche)

13. Jake Dennis (Andretti)

14. Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)

15. Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)

16. Norman Nato (Nissan)

17. Mitch Evans (Jaguar)

18. Oliver Rowland (Nissan)

19. Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro)

20. Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)