Portland E-Prix: Evans grabs pole, Formula E points leader Cassidy 11th
Mitch Evans claimed his second Formula E pole of the season for the Portland E-Prix, as title protagonists Nick Cassidy and Pascal Wehrlein both failed to make the duels.
Jaguar driver Evans posted a 1m08.820s which left him 0.196s clear of Andretti’s Norman Nato, having been fastest in the final two sectors.
It means Evans has also closed to within 32 points of team-mate and championship leader Cassidy in the standings, courtesy of the three points for pole.
Nato, however, will have to relinquish his front-row start after he was handed a 10-place grid penalty due to amassing three reprimands for driving infringements in the same season after he was caught exceeding the full course yellow speed limit during FP1.
Evans had progressed to the final after setting a 1m08.664s, the fastest time across qualifying, which left him two and a half tenths clear of McLaren’s Jake Hughes, the Briton set to start on the front-row.
An error for Envision’s Robin Frijns in the opening sector meant he was unable to recover in his showdown with Nato and missed out by 0.280s.
Edoardo Mortara lost any hope of progressing to the semi-finals as the Mahindra driver ran wide on the exit of Turn 11 and took to the grass, allowing Hughes to reach the next stage.
While Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa didn’t quite make it as far as the grass, a wide moment at the same corner cost him dearly against Frijns. He missed out by just 0.046s, despite having been faster in the opening two sectors.
ERT’s Dan Ticktum made it through to the duels for the first time this season after topping the second qualifying group, but was 0.083s slower than Nato in the quarter-finals, while Evans was never headed in his bout against Abt’s Lucas di Grassi, going fastest in all three sectors to finish nearly four tenths clear.
Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro
Earlier, championship leader Cassidy failed to progress beyond the opening qualifying group stage as he finished seventh, the Jaguar driver less than one tenth away from making the cut.
First to miss out was Abt’s Nico Muller, followed by Sebastien Buemi (Envision) in the 12-minute session.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished eighth, but the DS Penske driver had his final flying effort ruined after he was forced to take avoiding action into Turn 11 when he came across a slow Sergio Sette Camara on the racing line, with the incident under investigation.
Sette Camara did initially make it through to the duels, but the ERT driver lost several of his best laps due to “overpower in release”, as per the stewards.
McLaren’s Sam Bird and Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG) completed the group, which was headed by Hughes, Evans – who had a brief grassy excursion at Turn 4 – di Grassi and Mortara.
Like Cassidy, fellow title protagonist Wehrlein was also unable to progress through to the qualifying duels, finishing fifth in the second group and missing out by 0.021s.
He was joined by reigning champion Jake Dennis ahead of Andretti’s home race and Nissan stand-in Caio Collet, who finished seventh for his Formula E debut having replaced the ill Oliver Rowland.
Collet also beat team-mate Sacha Fenestraz, who was able to take part in qualifying despite damaging his Nissan in a practice crash earlier today.
Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske) finished ninth from the second Maserati MSG of Jehan Daruvala, while Nyck de Vries was last for Mahindra despite setting the fastest time in the opening sector.