Mitch Evans took pole position for this afternoon’s London E-Prix Race 1, closing the gap in the Drivers’ World Championship as team-mate Nick Cassidy failed to make it into the duel stage, lining-up 19th.
Evans was in scintillating form throughout the session, and secured pole in a tight final showdown with Envision’s Sebastian Buemi, who lines-up second.
Pascal Wehrlein, twelve points behind Cassidy, lines-up third with Norman Nato fourth.
Title outsider Jean-Eric Vergne qualified fifth, with Nico Müller an impressive sixth for ABT Cupra, with Oliver Rowland, also still mathematically capable of glory, will start in seventh. The sister Envision of Robin Frijns lines-up eighth, Antonio Felix da Costa ninth and Jake Dennis tenth, two men also who can be title.
For Cassidy, it will be an afternoon to forget, as he is now left wide open and vulnerable to his nearest challengers Wehrlein and Evans.
HOW QUALIFYING UNFOLDED
GROUP STAGE
Group A proved to be a disaster for title leader Cassidy, finishing a lowly ninth having been unable to get his Jaguar hooked-up. Wehrlein made the best possible start, topping the group with a 1:10.927, followed by Buemi, some two tenths adrift. Rowland was just two one thousandths of a second short of the Swiss, with Frijns edging-out Jake Dennis for the final spot into the duels.
Group B saw Evans top with a 1:10.878, guaranteeing him a far superior grid spot than his team-mate and compatriot. Müller showed more stunning one-lap pace in the ABT, with Nato and Vergne also making it through at the expense of Antonio Felix da Costa, another title protagonist who, like Cassidy, will have it all to in the race.
DUELS
The first head-to-head of the afternoon pitted Buemi against Rowland, with the Envision man setting a 1:10.791, a princely two tenths ahead of the Nissan.
Wehrlein against Frijns proved to be split by just four hundredths of a second in favour of the Porsche.
Nato versus Müller would see the Frenchman edge it with a 1:10.889, just 0.083s ahead of the outgoing ABT man.
In the Evans-Vergne duel, the Penske, despite seeing the fastest time of the duel up until that point, Evans would obliterate it seconds later with a 1:10.263, three tenths faster.
SEMI-FINALS
In Buemi-Wehrlein, despite setting a similar time to that in his duel, Wehrlein was unable to take it to the next level, with the Envision a whopping four tenths quicker with a 1:10.402
In the second semi-final, Evans continued his fine afternoon form, defeating Nato by just under two tenths with a 1:10.385
FINAL
Evans took pole with a 1:10.622, just 0.069s ahead of Buemi, the three points closing the gap to Cassidy to just nine, and giving him ample chance of closing the gap further in the race.
