Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara secured his first Formula E pole for two years after edging Stoffel Vandoorne to the top spot ahead of the Berlin E-Prix.
Edoardo Mortara capped off his and Mahindra’s first qualifying Duel final appearance of the Formula E season by taking pole for the first race of the Berlin E-Prix. His lap of 1m1.741s in the final head-to-head was 0.267s quicker than the much-fancied DS Penske driver Stoffel Vandoorne.
Ahead of the final, Mortara also defeated Vandoorne’s teammate Jean-Eric Vergne in the semifinal, and Jehan Daruvala in the quarterfinals, although the Maserati MSG driver will be taking a 20-place grid penalty anyway due to a front gearbox change.
Vandoorne’s 1m01.844s allowed him to beat ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara by 0.167s in their semi-final duel, while Mortara recovered from a fractionally slower opening sector to beat the second DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne by a tenth.
Championship leader and Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein lost out in his quarter-final duel against Vergne by only 0.082s, while Vandoorne progressed at the expense of Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther by more than two tenths.
Abt’s Lucas di Grassi made it through to the duels for the first time this season but fell short by 0.229s against Sette Camara. Despite brushing the wall at the final corner in the opening qualifying group, Mortara topped the session with a 1m02.619s and was joined by Wehrlein, Vergne and Daruvala in the duels.
The second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa missed out on progressing by 0.084s as he finished ahead of Monaco winner and Jaguar driver, Mitch Evans. Also eliminated were Dan Ticktum (ERT), Mahindra’s Jordan King ahead of his Formula E debut and Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan).
Joel Eriksson, replacing Robin Frijns at Envision this weekend, finished 10th ahead of reigning champion Jake Dennis, the Andretti driver last but less than half a second slower than Mortara’s best.
Dennis’s team-mate Norman Nato fared little better in the second qualifying group as he also finished last to complete a disastrous session for the American team.
Di Grassi had topped the group, setting a 1m02.615s with his final effort to head Guenther, who like Mortara also brushed the wall at the final turn, Vandoorne and Sette Camara.
Championship contender Nick Cassidy failed to advance by 0.079s and was joined by the second Abt of Kelvin van der Linde, replacing Nico Muller, and Taylor Barnard in for the injured Sam Bird again.
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland finished eighth ahead of the second McLaren of Jake Hughes, while Formula E debutant Paul Aron was 10th for Envision and less than half a second behind di Grassi.
Taylor Barnard was a fine 13th in his second-ever qualifying appearance for NEOM McLaren, outqualifying teammate Jake Hughes who was down in 17th, Mahindra’s Jordan King and the Nissans of Oliver Rowland and Sacha Fenestraz splitting the pair.
Envision Racing’s substitutes Joel Eriksson and Paul Aron will start the race 18th and 19th, with the Andretti drivers saved from a back-row lockout by Daruvala’s gearbox penalty.
