FE | Saudi Arabia: Vergne beats Evans and takes pole

Seventy-two thousandths. This is the gap that divided Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans at the finish line in the final qualifying of the first round of the weekend in Saudi Arabia. The Frenchman from DS actually managed to beat his rival from Jaguar by less than a tenth, finding those decisive hundredths in the final part of the lap, also given the great balance recorded between the contenders for pole in the first two sectors.

For Vergne, the appointment with first position on the flying lap had been missing for about two years, since the 2022 Jakarta ePrix, and he did not hide his satisfaction in the post-qualifying interviews. Now the challenge will be to be able to convert the pole position into a good result also in the race, a session where Porsche and Jaguar generally demonstrated that they have something more.

Second row for the reigning world champion, Jake Dennis, beaten in the first semi-final by Mitch Evans by just 87 thousandths. Although he was able to achieve the best partial in the first and third sectors, the British driver suffered a bad intermediate time, where he was the protagonist of several corrections that cost him almost two tenths. A difficult gap to bridge considering the great balance seen in the other sections of the track, which then led him to cross the finish line with those nine hundredths of a delay that separated him from access to the final.

At his side will be the other big surprise of this qualification, Sergio Sette Camara, capable of bringing his ERT to the noblest areas of the ranking. The Brazilian driver was unable to find the right balance in the second semi-final against Vergne, losing the duel against the Frenchman by around half a second: beyond the gap made up, for Sette Camara it is still an excellent fourth place, with the hope that the issue of efficiency may weigh less heavily than in other events.

Opening the third row will be Norman Nato with the second Andretti, eliminated in the last eighth of the final by Vergne. Although the Frenchman didn't make any major mistakes, he accumulated about a tenth of a gap in each of the three sectors, making it virtually impossible to beat his compatriot. In any case, it was a good qualification for Nato in what is his second outing with the American team.

At his side will be the world championship leader, Pascal Wehrlein, beaten by Jake Dennis in a duel between the official Porsche and that of the Andretti customer team. Despite a good third intermediate time, the German was unable to recover the gap accumulated in the opening sector of the lap, in which the Englishman had been able to close a tenth and a half behind his rival.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Maximilian Gunther, Maserati Racing, Maserati Tipo Folgore

Seventh place for Nick Cassidy, who lost the internal Jaguar duel against Mitch Evans, recording a gap of half a second. Closing the fourth row will be Max Gunther with the Maserati Tipo Folgore: the German was in fact eliminated in the third round of 16 of the final against Sergio Sette Camara. Although the Brazilian made some mistakes in the first part of the lap, Gunther was unable to keep up with Sette Camara's pace in the final half-time, being beaten by around four tenths. The Trident brand was particularly confident on the eve of the weekend: having obtained a position in the top eight, in the race it will have to demonstrate that it can look up to the top positions, a challenge that is anything but simple.

In group A there were no big surprises, with the favorites able to easily get through to the round. Indeed, Nick Cassidy, Jake Dennis, Pascal Wehrlein and Mitch Evans managed to gain access to the next stage. The only excellent exclusion was that of Robin Frijns with Envision Racing, who recorded the sixth fastest time behind Jake Hughes with McLaren, first among those eliminated by more than two tenths of a gap from the last valid time which would have been access to duels.

The two ABT Cupras were also immediately out, these days at the center of attention for the possible decision to abandon the Mahindra Powertrain starting from next season: Nico Mueller still managed to win the internal battle ahead of Lucas Di Grassi. The two official cars of the Indian manufacturer in fact finished respectively in the last positions of the first group, which will lead them to occupy the last two rows on the grid, with the 2021 world champion Nyck de Vries forced to start from the back.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Sergio Sette Camara, ERT Formula E Team, ERT X24

If in group A the ranking substantially respects the values ​​on the field that could have been imagined on the eve of the match, on the contrary, group B offered several surprises, linked in particular to the passage of the round by Sergio Sette Camara, capable of achieving the second best time behind Jean-Eric Vergne. For ERT – which was born from the ashes of NIO after the change of ownership – this is an encouraging sign, even if already in the first season of Gen 3 it had shown that it could defend itself well in qualifying only to then suffer from energy management in the race.

Among the excellent exclusions from the second qualifying round are Stoffel Vandoorne and, above all, Sebastien Buemi, who was able to conquer the front row in Mexico. Both the Swiss and the Belgian were at the back of the group which last tried to attack the best time hoping for an improvement on the track, which was particularly dirty as per tradition in Saudi Arabia. However, the group became so compact that in the end the riders were forced to slow down to gain space before launching, losing temperature in the tyres. Vandoorne, Buemi and Jehan Daruvala were the last to launch, paying for less than ideal preparation.

The Indian from Maserati will thus occupy the last row of the grid together with Nyck de Vries. Among those eliminated from the second group are also Sam Bird with the other McLaren, Sacha Fenestraz with the Nissan, Dan Ticktum with the other ERT and Antonio Felix da Costa with the Porsche: a period lacking in satisfaction continues for the Portuguese.