Mitch Evans edges out Pascal Wehrlein to take Monaco E-Prix pole

Mitch Evans claimed a surprise pole position for the Monaco E-Prix on Saturday, defeating Pascal Wehrlein in the final of the qualifying duels.

Evans, who drives for Jaguar TCS Racing, is coming off a double victory in the Rome E-Prix, and he was in fine form again to claim his first pole position of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season 2021-22.

Stoffel Vandoorne of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team topped Group A in Monaco, finishing barely ahead of Pascal Wehrlein of the Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team, while championship leader Jean-Éric Vergne of DS Techeetah and Lucas di Grassi of ROKiT Venturi Racing also qualified.

Sam Bird was just 0.013 seconds outside the top four, with Nissan e.dams’ Maximilian Günther sixth and NIO 333 FE Team’s Daniel Ticktum seventh, despite being as high as second at one point during the practice.

Surprisingly, Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara finished eighth in the session, while Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy finished ninth after making a mistake at turn one. Sérgio Sette Câmara of Dragon/Penske Autosport and Nissan’s Sébastien Buemi completed Group A.

Evans won Group B ahead of Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries, while Porsche’s André Lotterer and Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns continued their incredible unbroken streak of qualifying for the 2021-22 season’s first six rounds.

Oliver Rowland of Mahindra Racing lost out on the duels by less than a tenth of a second, while António Félix da Costa, the 2021 Monaco E-Prix winner, finished sixth fastest in the second DS Techeetah.

Avalanche Andretti FE Team drivers Oliver Askew and Jake Dennis finished seventh and eighth respectively, while Mahindra’s Alexander Sims, Dragon’s Antonio Giovinazzi, and NIO 333’s Oliver Turvey completed Group B.

In the Quarterfinals, Evans faced off against di Grassi, and the New Zealander won by 0.285 seconds to advance. In the second Quarter Final, Vergne beat de Vries by 0.517 seconds to advance to the semi-finals.

The third Quarter Final was a Porsche fight, with Wehrlein defeating Lotterer by 0.268 seconds, while the fourth Quarter Final was the tightest of the four, with Vandoorne overcoming Frijns by 0.158 seconds.

Evans defeated Vergne in the semi-final with a time of 1:30.001, the Frenchman finishing 0.117 seconds behind Evans. In the second semi-final, Wehrlein beat Vandoorne by 0.178 seconds.

Evans was quick out of the blocks in the final, and Wehrlein had no response for the Jaguar driver’s speed. Evans was a tenth of a second ahead in the first sector, and that lead grew throughout the lap, with Evans clocking a time of 1:29.839 to secure pole.

Monaco E-Prix Qualifying Result