Vandoorne Edges Out Dennis For Diriyah Pole
Calum Gill 14:13 28/01/2022
Stoffel Vandoorne will start Formula E’s season-opening Diriyah E-Prix from pole position after triumphing on the debut of the series’ new knockout qualifying format.
The 22 drivers were split into two even groups and the fastest four from each 12-minute group made up the four ‘duel’ quarter-finals, where two drivers went head-to-head in a one-lap shootout. The driver with the fastest lap progressed to the semi-final with the two winners of the semi-finals facing off in the final to decide who would start on pole position. Vandoorne was third quickest in his group and narrowly beat Envision’s Nick Cassidy in their quarter-final clash before facing his Mercedes EQ team-mate Nyck de Vries in the semi-finals.
Reigning champion De Vries made a flying start to their intra-team duel but a couple of wide moments where he almost lost control of his car cost him a place in the final. In the final, Vandoorne faced Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who had beaten Jaguar’s Sam Bird and Porsche’s André Lotterer to get there. The pair were evenly matched in the opening sector but Dennis lost six tenths of a second with a mistake in sector two, costing himself his second-ever Formula E pole. Vandoorne and Dennis will share the front row ahead of the two semi-finals losers de Vries and Lotterer.
De Vries topped his group and then beat practice pacesetter Oliver Rowland in the quarter-finals - that outcome was quickly apparent when Rowland made a mistake into the opening complex of corners. Bird will start from fifth as the fastest of the quarter-final losers, he’ll be followed by Envision duo Cassidy and Robin Frijns, the latter of whom topped the group stages but lost to Lotterer in the quarter-finals. Rowland was due to start eighth before he picked up a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pascal Wehrlein in the pitlane. Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara locked his rear brakes and slammed into the barriers at the opening corner in the closing moments of the second group session.
Mortara’s stricken car warranted yellow flags that prevented many of his rivals from progressing to the duels. His new team-mate Lucas di Grassi qualified in ninth place on his Venturi debut, narrowly missing out on a place in the duels to Rowland who he’ll now start ahead of duo to Rowland’s penalty. Maximilian Günther will start ninth on his Nissan e.dams debut ahead of Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, Rowland and Mortara.
Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Éric Vergne was baulked by Frijns on his fastest lap and had to settle for 13th on the grid, with his DS Techeetah team-mate António Félix da Costa 16th and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and Dragon Penske’s Sérgio Sette Camara splitting them. Andretti’s Oliver Askew was quickest of the 2022 rookie trio in 17th place ahead of Mahindra’s Alexander Sims and NIO 333 duo Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum. The back row of the 22-car grid will consist of 2015/16 Formula E champion Sébastien Buemi (Nissan) and Formula 1 convert Antonio Giovinazzi (Dragon).
