Qualifying report
Formula E London ePrix II
London E-Prix: Evans cuts points deficit with pole, Cassidy only 17th
Evans reduces points gap to nine between himself and team-mate Cassidy
Stefan Mackley
Edited: Jul 20, 2024, 2:36 PM
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Mitch Evans claimed pole for this weekend’s first London E-Prix, reducing the points gap to Jaguar team-mate and Formula E championship leader Nick Cassidy, who will start down in 17th.
Evans posted a 1m10.622s in the final duel against Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, which left him only 0.069s clear after setting a quicker time in the second and third sectors.
As well as starting first for this afternoon’s race at the London ExCeL, Evans also claimed the three points for pole, which has reduced his deficit to Cassidy from 12 to nine points, with 55 still available.
Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, who was also just 12 points behind Cassidy heading into this weekend, lost the chance to fight for those points after he was soundly beaten by more than four tenths in the semi-final against Buemi.
Evans had made it to the final after beating Andretti’s Norman Nato by 0.184s in the semi-final and progressed from the quarter-final stage with a scintillating 1m10.283s, the fastest lap throughout qualifying, which left him 0.369s clear of DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne.
Wehrlein, meanwhile, pulled back two tenths in the middle sector as he beat Envision’s Robin Frijns by just 0.039s at the line, while Nato bested his rumoured replacement at the Andretti team next season, Nico Muller (Abt), by 0.083s.
Oliver Rowland made it as far as the quarter-final on his return to Formula E, having recovered from his illness which meant he missed both races in Portland, but the Nissan driver finished two tenths slower than Buemi.
Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
With light rain falling as the opening qualifying group got underway earlier in proceedings, drivers were quick to log laps in case conditions worsened, but instead track grip began to increase throughout the 12-minute session as the weather improved and times continuously tumbled.
Cassidy could only manage ninth, though, having gone for two push laps at the end but unable to improve with his final effort on overheating tyres. This means the Kiwi will start from the ninth row for this afternoon’s race.
Cassidy's main title rival Wehrlein topped the group with a 1m10.927s which left him nearly two tenths faster than Buemi as Rowland and Frijns progressed.
Reigning champion Jake Dennis, who has a mathematical but highly unlikely chance of retaining his title, missed out on progressing by 0.116s as he headed Sam Bird (McLaren) and the two Mahindras of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara.
ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara finished 10th as Jake Hughes completed the group, unable to compete in the final minutes after damaging his McLaren following contact with the wall.
Despite failing to improve with his final effort after running slightly wide at Turn 1 and Turn 19, Evans still topped the second group with a 1m10.878s, 0.016s ahead of Muller, as Nato and Vergne were all within a tenth of a second.
Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, 33 points behind Cassidy in the standings, missed the cut by 0.035s in fifth after the team had to replace the power invertor in his car after FP2 earlier in the day.
He was joined by Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther and Jehan Daruvala, who split Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan) in seventh.
Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske), ERT’s Dan Ticktum and the second Abt of Lucas di Grassi completed the group, which was covered by less than four tenths.
Formula E London E-Prix Race 1 - Grid
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Main Information
Cla Driver # Time km/h 1 M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9
1'10.622
109.138 2 S. Buemi Envision Racing 16
+0.069
1'10.691
109.032 3 P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94
+0.205
1'10.827
108.822 4 N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17
+0.397
1'11.019
108.528 5 J. Vergne DS Penske 25
+0.030
1'10.652
109.092 6 N. Müller Team Abt 51
+0.350
1'10.972
108.600 7 O. Rowland Nissan e.dams 22
+0.377
1'10.999
108.559 8 R. Frijns Envision Racing 4
+0.387
1'11.009
108.543 9 A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13
+0.368
1'10.990
108.573 10 J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1
+0.682
1'11.304
108.094 11 M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7
+0.389
1'11.011
108.540 12 S. Bird McLaren 8
+0.820
1'11.442
107.886 13 S. Fenestraz Nissan e.dams 23
+0.435
1'11.057
108.470 14 N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21
+0.865
1'11.487
107.818 15 J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18
+0.479
1'11.101
108.403 16 E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48
+0.926
1'11.548
107.726 17 N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37
+0.929
1'11.551
107.721 18 D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33
+0.514
1'11.136
108.350 19 L. di Grassi Team Abt 11
+0.613
1'11.235
108.199 20 S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2
+0.503
1'11.125
108.366 21 J. Hughes McLaren 5
+3.266
1'13.888
104.314 22 S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3
+1.177
1'11.799
107.349 View full results
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