Just a stone’s throw from the banks of the Thames, the first qualifying of the final weekend of on-track action of the season for Formula E took place, where four drivers are still in the fight for the coveted world title. A busy day, with the pressure skyrocketing, as the stakes for everyone are extremely high.
The final turned out to be a duel all in New Zealand sauce between Mitch Evans, who then took pole, and Nick Cassidy, with the latter beaten by just twenty-six thousandths. The Jaguar driver managed to establish himself after beating fearsome rivals such as Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Dennis in sequence in the quarterfinals and semifinals, thus also gaining the three additional points that reduced his gap from the Englishman’s Andretti to 41 points. still a considerable gap.
However, Nick Cassidy will inherit the first position on the starting grid, as Mitch Evans will have to serve a five-place penalty for the accident caused in the Rome round two weeks ago. It will be an important occasion for the Envision rider to try and recover some points for the world standings, where at the moment he is 24 points behind the leader.
Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing , Jaguar I-TYPE 6
Photo by: Charly Lopez / Motorsport Images
The show was not lacking even in the semifinals, where Mitch Evans managed to beat the big favorite for the title, Jake Dennis, with the latter who will start from the front row anyway, with the real possibility of increasing his chances of winning the championship in case he manages to complete a good race. In the other duel the two Envision standard-bearers faced each other, in an entirely home-made confrontation: however, it was Sebastien Buemi himself who put an end to the challenge, author of a long shot in the slowest part of the track which definitively ruled him out of the fight for the final.
What was surprising is that, unlike other appointments, the gaps in the quarter-finals were quite large, demonstrating the challenges offered by this track, where even a small mistake can have a significant impact on the clock. For example, in the first duel between Mitch Evans and Stoffel Vandoorne, the New Zealander managed to beat the Belgian by six tenths of a second, while in the other matches the gap was between two and a half tenths and four tenths.
In the second quarter, Dennis imposed his dominance by beating the first McLaren, that of René Rast, who will however start from third position taking advantage of the penalty assigned to Evans, with a good opportunity to score useful points for the team standings. However, it should be kept in mind that, for this appointment, the energy available to during the race has been significantly reduced, so the work done by the Powertrain and by the driver will be essential to manage the charge, an aspect in which the unit Nissan mounted on the single-seater often did not excel.
In the last two quarter-finals, Sebastien Buemi beat Dan Ticktum, however the author of a good performance with a NIO that on several occasions proved to be able to surprise in qualifying, while Nick Cassidy, another pretender to the title, beat Pascal Wehrlein with the Porsche.
Jake Dennis, Andretti Autosport
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
The first heat saw the big favorite for the title race, Jake Dennis, who finished group A 30 thousandths ahead of his other rival for the championship, Mitch Evans. On the other hand, Sam Bird found elimination, detached by less than a tenth from the last position valid for overcoming the cut, Edoardo Mortara with the Maserati and Jean Eric-Vergne with the DS, who accused a delay of over three tenths from his teammate, Stoffel Vandoorne, with the latter instead able to overtake the next stage of qualifying.
These three were joined by André Lotterer, who should be in his last weekend with Andretti before fully concentrating on the Endurance championship, Antonio Felix Da Costa, Sergio Sette Camara with the NIO and Robin Frijns.
In group B, on the other hand, the great exclusion is that of the home rider Jake Hughes, who finished only ninth in his heat, which will force him to start in the top ten on the starting grid. Negative performance also for Max Gunther, also excluded in the first minutes of the session like his team mate with the other Tipo Folgore.
Difficult day also for Nissan and Mahindra, with both drivers who were immediately eliminated in the first phase of qualifying: the cars of the Indian team, in fact, will occupy the last two rows, where they will keep Sergio Sette Camara company with the NIO despite themselves and Robin Frijns with ABT.
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