Da Costa On Marrakesh Pole, Vandoorne 20th
Grid Talk Reporter 11:18 02/07/2022
António Félix da Costa claimed his first pole of the 2022 Formula E season in Marrakesh, but front row partner Edoardo Mortara had most reason to be happy as championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne starts 20th.
Having not even managed to reach the podium so far this year, da Costa volunteered before the Marrakesh event to support DS Techeetah team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne’s title bid for the rest of the season – while admitting that he’d “hate” doing so. But the DS Techeetahs have been rapid through the Marrakesh event so far, going first and second in their qualifying group after topping final practice. They ended up head to head in a qualifying semi-final, with da Costa beating Vergne there before going on to outpace Venturi Mercedes driver Mortara by 0.081 seconds in the final to repeat the pole he took on FE’s last Marrakesh appearance in early 2020.
By contrast, the works Mercedes team had not looked quick in the qualifying build-up and then a brake problem left Vandoorne slowest in his group. He’ll start on the penultimate row in 20th. Vandoorne’s title rivals start second (Mortara), third (Vergne) and sixth (Mitch Evans). Pascal Wehrlein put one Porsche fourth on the grid but the other starts last. A sensor problem meant André Lotterer joined group qualifying late and was unable to do a lap within the first six minutes as mandated by rules imposed to stop last-minute traffic jams. He had his times deleted as a result, but had not made the duels anyway. Avalanche Andretti had its strongest collective qualifying performance of the season so far, with Jake Dennis qualifying fifth and Oliver Askew a Formula E career best seventh. He’ll share row four with lead Envision runner Nick Cassidy.
Nyck de Vries is top works Mercedes in ninth, alongside Mortara’s team-mate di Grassi. De Vries was involved in a practice collision on Friday that earned Sébastien Buemi a three-place grid penalty. The Nissan starts 17th as a result. Alexander Sims crashed in morning practice and qualified down in 19th for Mahindra. Antonio Giovinazzi’s miserable Formula E season got no better. He failed to set a qualifying time due to suspected suspension damage and joins Lotterer on the back row.
