FE | Misano 2: Hughes takes McLaren to pole, Vergne second

The second pole position of the Misano weekend this time is papaya coloured, thanks to the best lap recorded by Jake Hughes in the final against Jean-Eric Vergne. The British driver from McLaren in fact finished in 1:16.538, beating the DS driver by around two and a half tenths: for Vergne, just like yesterday, the qualifying run was perfect except for the final, thus securing two second places between Saturday and Sunday. The Frenchman, particularly competitive throughout the weekend, nevertheless said he was satisfied with his performance, given that it will allow him to remain in the leading group.

Now the challenge moves to the afternoon, when the drivers will take to the track for the race: today there will be two laps less than the first race of the weekend, which will be reflected in a less chaotic race, but the drivers will still be forced to manage the battery, so it is not surprising if there will be more leadership changes.

As yesterday, great performance for Nico Mueller, who managed to bring his ABT Cupra to fourth position, although there is some regret, because during his lap the Swiss driver suffered some power cuts that he didn't expect they allowed us to fight with weapons apparently with Vergne. It is no coincidence, in fact, that Mueller ended his race with a gap of one second from the Frenchman of the DS. Pascal Wehrlein will join him, with a Porsche that confirms good consistency in qualifying thanks to the progress made during the winter.

Robin Frijns will start from the fourth row, beaten by Nico Mueller in the first of the quarter-finals by seven tenths, with a clear error on the part of the Dutch driver. Also eliminated in the first phase of the duels was Nick Cassidy with the Jaguar, whose time was canceled for having exceeded the limits of the track, effectively handing the passage of the round to Vergne: the New Zealander will therefore start from eighth place on the starting grid.

Sam Bird was also excluded from the quarterfinals, but he will start fifth: apart from the pole, McLaren can therefore be considered satisfied overall: like yesterday, the British team managed to get both cars into the top ten, even if yesterday Hughes had been disqualified for a technical infringement related to the fire extinguisher. It will also be a tactical race for Stoffel Vandorone, sixth on the grid, beaten by Jake Hughes in the quarter-final: the position on the grid is better than yesterday's, leaving the door open to an extremely interesting race, particularly on a weekend which DS has always proven to be competitive.

Like yesterday, also in the second qualifying of the weekend group A gave a compact classification, given that the top eight finished within the space of just two tenths. After the elimination on Saturday, Nick Cassidy managed to redeem himself by finishing the first heat in the lead ahead of Robin Frijns, Nico Mueller and Jean-Eric Vergne. For ABT Cupra this is another excellent result in qualifying, with the Swiss managing to repeat his entry into yesterday's duels, demonstrating that in qualifying the team can compete with its rivals despite a Powertrain deficit compared to the rivals.

Nico Muller, ABT CUPRA Formula E Team, M9Electro

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

The first of those eliminated was the one who inherited the stage victory on Saturday, Oliver Rowland, fifth in group A, but only 44 thousandths of a second behind JEV. Max Gunther is also out and will therefore start from the sixth row, next to Sergio Sette Camara. Lucas di Grassi is further behind with the second ABT Cupra: so for others, even in the case of the Brazilian the qualification for the next round did not come by a few hundredths, given that under the checkered flag the gap from the last position to access the duels was was only 63 thousandths. Eighth Norman Nato, who will therefore start from the eighth row: the Frenchman will start ahead of Dan Ticktum, Nick de Vries and yesterday's winner, Antonio Felix da Costa, whose time was cancelled, which will force him to start from the bottom.

Group B was also particularly competitive, with the gap between the last position valid for access to the duels, occupied by an excellent Stoffel Vandoorne, and the first eliminated, Jake Dennis, of only 21 thousandths. However, the surprise is the exclusion of Mitch Evans, yesterday on pole, demonstrating that in Formula E everything can change from one day to the next.

Disappointment for Sergio Sette Camara, who initially set a valid time to move on to duels, at least before being overtaken by Vandoorne and Dennis. Sacha Fenestraz also eliminated, in what proved to be a very difficult qualifying for Nissan after yesterday's victory, as well as Sebastien Buemi, Edoardo Mortara and Jehan Daruvalata, with the latter closing the group with the second Maserati.