E-Prix Diriyah-2, Qualifying: De Vries on pole 5 thousandths from Mortara | FormulaPassion.it

Twenty-four hours after the first qualifying of the year, the second fight for pole position rewarded another driver from the Mercedes team. Contrary to Friday’s test, this time the author of the best time was Nyck De Vries, with the Dutch protagonist of a battle on the edge of thousandths with Edoardo Mortara, who finished 2nd with his Venturi. A challenge that has materialized since the opening of Group A, there where the reigning champion conquered the first position making the most of the development of the track in the final stages of the test. Behind the Dutchman they then passed the turn an excellent one Of Fatwith Rowland and Lotterer. The second Porsche of Wehrlein is instead excluded, author of the best time in the third free practice session. An elimination also stemmed from a misunderstanding with Sette-Camara, with the two drivers protagonists of a small discussion once back in the pit lane. Nothing to do, however, for Nick Cassidy, the protagonist of an accident during free practice that did not allow him to take part in the fight for pole.

Excluding excellent, however, in GROUP B: the most sensational concerned Stoffel Vandoorne, author of the pole position in the previous qualifying on Friday. The Belgian from Mercedes did not in fact go beyond the 6th place, finishing his session together with Sam Bird. The British Jaguar, winner of Race-2 in 2021, made a mistake five minutes from the checkered flag, lightly impacting his car against the protective wall. Due to this, the Englishman had to retire once he returned to the pits, finishing immediately behind Giovinazzi, 10th in the standings. Instead, they pass the turn Mortaraauthor of the best time, together with Frijns, Da Costa and Vergne.

In this way, i quarter finals they opened with the challenge between world champions such as Vergne and De Vries, which ended with the affirmation of the winner of Race-1, able to go under the barrier of the minute and 6 seconds. Second unpublished duel, however, between Da Costa and Di Grassi, with the latter party definitely lagging behind the Portuguese. All this due to the late start of the DS Techeetach driver, such as to force the Venturi rival to leave the pit lane at a later time. Despite the under investigation by the Race Direction against Da Costa, the Brazilian nevertheless won the ‘ticket’ for the semifinals. A very hot third round between Rowland and Frijns, who were also protagonists of a contact during Race-1. The Dutchman, penalized precisely for this accident, made up for it by gaining access to the semifinals, just like Mortara, who was able to eliminate Lotterer in the last phase of the quarter-finals.

WHAT A FINAL! @nyckdevries takes @juliusbaer Pole Position by just 0.005s 🤯

Huge effort from @edomortara 👏

🇸🇦 2022 #DiriyahEPrix pic.twitter.com/xzw8kYEoEX

– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) January 29, 2022

The final of Diriyah’s E-Prix qualifying once again featured a challenger from the Mercedes team, this time with De Vries in place of Vandoorne. The Dutchman, after defeating Di Grassi in the semifinals, has indeed faced Mortara in the last round of the fight for pole, with the Swiss Venturi who ‘avenged’ the elimination of his teammate. In the decisive battle for the best time, the reigning champion got the better of Mortara, but only for himself 5 thousandths of a second. In this way, De Vries will start in front of everyone in the race scheduled for 18:00 Italian, also conquering the full haul at the end of qualifying: in fact, in addition to the 3 points of the pole, the Mercedes driver also signed the best time absolutely during the rounds, securing the additional point reserved for the author of this result.

E-Prix Diriyah-2, qualifying: starting grid