Oliver Rowland took pole position for Race 2 of the Monaco E-Prix after both his potential final opponents had their laps deleted after driving over track limits.
In a rain-soaked session, the Brit, who took victory in Race 1 yesterday, is in a prime position to extend his lead in the World Championship by even more.
Rowland was due to meet either one of the DS Penske duo: Max Guenther or Jean-Eric Vergne but with both jumping the chicane in the wet, their times were deleted, leaving the Nissan driver without an opponent in the final;.
Rainfall sees Bird smash bring out the red flags
Group A began under a blanket of rain teeming down from about fifteen minutes before qualifying.
The elements left drivers slipping and sliding, looking like a four-wheeled figure skate.
The laptimes were, of course, much higher, with Rowland’s best time a 1:57.628s with around two minutes remaining.
Dan Ticktum went fastest with less than a minute left, with a 1:56.779s, half-a-tenth up on the Nissan. Mitch Evans looked set to go through but his final sector let him down, and was out.
Antonio Felix Da Costa went quickest with a 1:56.100s as the chequered flag fell, with Ticktum baulked on his final run.
Nyck De Vries then went quickest with a 1:55.385s, as Zane Maloney got into the top four, but Ticktum’s hold-up was not enough to end qualifying early, and just made it through.
Group B was throwing up some interesting pace from the Stellantis-powered cars, with Stoffel Vandoorne, Vergne and Guenther all in the top four, along with Nick Cassidy.
However, with around three minutes remaining, the red flag was out, with Sam Bird nose-first into the wall at Sainte-Devote, exactly where he crashed and broke his hand last year.
Reaching the braking point, he turned right but with everything locked, he brushed the barrier before the apex, and then headed into the wall on the escape road.
Thankfully, Bird extracted himself from the car and appeared to be absolutely fine, but the whole session was delayed whilst the car was cleared away.
Running eventually began again with everyone having enough time for one more lap.
Cassidy went quickest but was immediately dumped down the order with Sebastien Buemi going faster with a 1:52.480, with Vergne second, a whopping six tenths behind. Vandoorne third and Guenther fourth.
Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, Cassidy and Taylor Barnard were all out.
Kiro error ends Ticktum’s chances, with DS looking strong
The first duel put Rowland against da Costa, and the Porsche was giving the Portuguese no confidence in the damp conditions.
No real mistakes from da Costa, but Rowland was switched on superbly and went through with a 1:48.032, around 1.4 seconds ahead.
The second duel put Ticktum against de Vries, the man whose driving the Brit complained about in an impromptu post-race debrief on his Instagram page after Race 1.
Ticktum took to his lap but did not have 350kw power to give him any really discernible chance of going through. The Dutchman’s 1:48.167 was academic, as a furious Ticktum told his team he was boxing.
His fury was well-founded, his Kiro having been placed in two-wheel drive instead of all-wheel, a big mistake by the team, ending its man’s chances of a second consecutive appearance in the semi-finals.
The third-placed Vandoorne against his old DS Penske team-mate Vergne, and it was the latter who was able to navigate the damp track better, his 1:48.481s over seven tenths quicker.
However, on the exit of Tabac, Vergne slid his car into the outside barrier, but appeared to escape with no significant issues.
The final match-up was between Guenther and Buemi, and after running wide at Massenet, it looked as if his chances were over.
But Buemi slid deep into hairpin, compromising his run, and Guenther made it a DS double semi-final appearance via a 1:48.689s but after skidding off the apex at the swimming pool at the Louis Chiron chicane, he bounced over the kerb and appeared to place his car totally over the track limits.
After Race 1, both Rowland and de Vries told Motorsport Week they wanted rain for Race 2, therefore it seemed prophetic that they were placed against each-other in the first semi-final.
The Mahindra locked-up and went off into the run-off at Sainte-Devote, handing Rowland a final spot, or did he?
Straight after, Rowland replicated the same mistake, therefore leaving both men’s laps relevant. Rowland’s recovery was, however, much faster, and his 1:55.897s was enough by 2.5 seconds.
It was, therefore, an all-DS second semi-final, and again, there was both cars sliding off at the same place.
On the exit of the tunnel, Guenther had a big fishtail, and failing to brake before the chicane, forced to bounce over the kerbs. But Vergne then repeated it, but like Rowland, Vergne was able to sort it out quicker and his 1:51.547s was quicker by two seconds.
Rowland’s qualifying luck reversed
Yesterday, Rowland’s crash on his flying lap in the final saw him crash out, handing it to Barnard.
But today, it was all over before it began in his favour, as both Vergne’s and Guenther’s semi-final laps were deleted for track limit infringements.
Without having to take to the track, Rowland took pole and extended his title lead by another three points.
READ MORE – Monaco E-Prix: Oliver Rowland wants answers from FIA after tough race
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