Vandoorne Gives Mercedes Third Pole Of 2022
Calum Gill 10:58 09/04/2022
Mercedes claimed its third Formula E pole position from the first three races of the 2022 season with Stoffel Vandoorne in Rome.
Vandoorne had also taken pole for the Diriyah opener only to throw away victory with an attack mode activation error. His last Formula E win came in Rome 12 months ago. This time he reached the final duel for pole by defeating the DS Techeetahs of Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix da Costa in the quarter and semi-finals. He then took on Robin Frijns for the top spot, where the Envision Audi’s sideways antics came Vandoorne a clear run at pole. Vandoorne’s world champion team-mate Nyck de Vries lost his semi to Frijns so starts third alongside da Costa, but Mercedes has taken the lead of the teams’ championship with Vandoorne’s bonus points for pole. Row three will be Vergne and the Avalanche Andretti BMW of Jake Dennis.
Vergne’s day began with an odd practice collision with Oliver Rowland that sent the Mahindra into the chicane barriers while it appeared to be trying to get out of Vergne’s way. No action was taken after a stewards’ probe. Rowland later spun at the end of group qualifying and starts 10th. After its breakthrough Mexico 1-2 last time out, Porsche had a mildly disappointing start in Italy as both André Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein were knocked out in quarter-final duels, by Frijns and da Costa respectively, and will share row four.
Lotterer’s car required quick repairs before qualifying having clipped the chicane wall in final practice moments after Oliver Askew did the same just ahead. The works Mercedes and Porsche drivers have a good opportunity to make up ground on Venturi’s championship leader Edoardo Mortara. He could only qualify his customer Mercedes 11th. Jaguar’s hope that Rome would be where its poor 2022 season perked up were quickly dashed, despite the team having looked strong in practice.
Mitch Evans was edged out of the duels late in group A so starts ninth while team-mate Sam Bird raged at Sébastien Buemi in the pitlane after not quite making it over the line in time before the chequered flag in that session, leaving him 13th on the grid. Ex-Formula 1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi’s first home FE race looks set to be as miserable as most of the rest of his Dragon experience so far. He was the slowest of all in group qualifying.
