Nissan’s Oliver Rowland produced a qualifying session of unabated speed and consistency to grab his second Pole Position of the season ahead of today’s Tokyo E-Prix.
At what is the Nissan team’s first home race in FIA Formula E, Rowland maintained his 100 per cent duel record of 2024, pipping Maserati MSG Racing’s Max Guenther, the German once again showing his team’s ever-growing improvement this season.
GROUP A
Rowland’s rich vein of form was in evidence in Group A, topping the timings with a lap of 1:19.658, even choosing not to embark on a final run. Edoardo Mortara finished second, two hundredths of a second behind in the Mahindra. Jake Dennis would also make it through, initially with Nick Cassidy, but the Jaguar TCS Racing man’s time would be deleted after a technical infraction, with his place thus taken by team-mate Mitch Evans.
Antonio Felix da Costa, Norman Nato, Jake Hughes, Lucas di Grassi, Jehan Daruvala and Sebastien Buemi would all also miss out.
GROUP B
After the taste of triumph in Sao Paulo, it was bitter disappointment for NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird, who would finish slowest of the group, spinning on his final run to compound his misery. Guenther once again showed more impressive speed, finishing first with a time of 1:19.391. Despite brushing the wall and shedding some debris in the process, the ERT of Sergio Sette Camara would finish second, just 0.083 behind. Nico Mueller also impressed, with third place, albeit some three tenths adrift, with Pascal Wehrlein a further tenth off in fourth. After a strong showing in FP2, it would ultimately be double disappointment for Envision, with Robin Frijns knocked-out.
Nyck de Vries – who spun moments before Bird at the same corner – Jean-Eric Vergne, Dan Ticktum, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Sacha Fenestraz were also knocked-out.
QUARTER-FINALS
In quarter-final number one, Mortara blitzed his lap and Dennis in the process, with a time three tenths quicker than the reigning World Champion, and the closest of all quarter-finalists to the 1:18s, short by just eight thousandths.
In the second, Rowland’s lap was just under three tenths quicker than Evans’, who appeared to somehow avoid significant left-rear suspension damage after falling foul of the bumpy surface and clattering the wall.
Sette Camara’s one lap pace looked scintillating again, lapping over half-a-second quicker than Mueller in the third duel.
Wehrlein looked to be nimbly navigating his Porsche through the lap, but after running wide midway through, he would be knocked-out, three tenths off Guenther’s lap.
SEMI-FINALS
In semi-final one, Rowland broke into the 1:18s with a blistering middle sector to eclipse Mortara by two tenths and put himself into the Final.
In the second, Sette Camara once again tagged the wall, this time twice in the first sector, but on this time unable to avoid damaging the car, appearing to bend his steering in the process. This allowed Guenther to easily reach the Final by two tenths.
FINAL
Guenther lapped first, with a fast and tidy lap that on another day may have seen him take top spot, but Rowland, on the absolute edge, took pole by two hundredths of a second, despite a ragged final sector, with a lap of 1:19.023. It is the eighth FIA Formula E Pole Position of the Englishman’s career.
After two superb showings in Diriyah and Sao Paulo, is the Rowland run going to continue with further success on the streets of Tokyo?
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