Nick Cassidy took pole position in the second qualifying session of the Formula E Shanghai E-Prix. The Jaguar driver collects the fastest lap during an atypical session.
The heavy rain forced the race director to postpone the qualifying for 45 minutes, cancelling the duels. Cassidy, inserted in Group A, conquers the best lap overall.
Second place for Antonio Felix Da Costa, while Pascal Wehrlein will start from the third position. Lucas Di Grassi obtains the fourth-best time, while Jake Hughes completes the top five.
Only ninth place for Maximilian Guenther, winner of yesterday’s race. Also difficult qualifying session for Oliver Rowland. The championship leader will start the second race of the Shanghai E-Prix in 17th place.
The rain makes the qualifying tricky
Shanghai hosts the second qualifying session of the weekend, valid for Round 11 of the electric championship. The session has been brought forward by one hour from the original schedule due to the difficult weather conditions expected during the day.
Despite the schedule change, at 09:00 local time, pre-set for qualifying, heavy rain falls on the circuit. The race direction delays the start by ten minutes: the drivers get on track at 09:10.
The start of qualifying is postponed again, first at 09:20, then at 09:30. The Safety Car inspects the track through several laps, but the situation is too risky to give the green light to the session.
The Shanghai circuit is very flat, which makes it difficult to drain water. The standing water zones represent the main obstacle to the qualifying start.
The situation does not improve in the following minutes, and several drivers express doubts about the possibility of performing qualifying. According to Sam Bird, the volume of water is too much to think about going on track.
The McLaren driver’s words are followed by those of Lucas Di Grassi, who believes that the amount of water on the track is increasing. However, someone likes these conditions, for example Robin Frijns.
At 09:40 local time, the race direction makes a decision: qualifying will take place, but without the duels. The starting grid of the Shanghai E-Prix race 2 will therefore be decided only by the times collected in the groups stage.
Cassidy on top of Group A
Five minutes later, Group A, composed of Rowland, Wehrlein, Gunther, Nyck De Vries, Dan Ticktum, Edoardo Mortara, Cassidy, Jake Hughes, Mitch Evans, Norman Nato, and Zane Maloney, comes out of their boxes.
The drivers take a few laps to adapt to the conditions of the track, but there are many difficulties. De Vries loses control of his Mahindra, going into a spin after ten minutes from the start of the session.
After twelve minutes, the chequered flag puts an end to Group A. Cassidy takes the fastest lap, finishing with a time of 1:31.305s. Second place for Wehrlein, four tenths slower, followed by Hughes and De Vries, who are respectively nine tenths and over one second behind Cassidy.
Fifth place for Guenther, winner of Round 10. Sixth position for Maloney, followed by Evans. Mortara is eighth, while the championship leader Rowland is in ninth place. Ticktum closes the top 10, followed by Nato.
Da Costa is the fastest in Group B
Taylor Barnard, Da Costa, Jean Eric Vergne, Jake Dennis, Sebastien Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Di Grassi, Bird, Nico Mueller, Frijns and David Beckmann compose Group B.
The track conditions remain complex. Beckmann ends up spinning, and shortly after, Buemi is forced to stop on the side of the track. His Envision has suffered a brake failure. In Shanghai, the red flag is waved. Somehow, the Swiss manages to get back on track, slowly bringing his car to the pit lane.
The session restarts some minutes after. Shortly after the resume, the session is permanently interrupted: rain has started to fall on the Chinese circuit again, and the race direction decides to put a stop to qualifying.
Da Costa ends the session on top of Group B. The Porsche driver collected a time of 1:32.95, followed by Di Grassi, who is one tenth behind. Third place for Vergne, 70 thousandths slower than Da Costa. Vandoorne if in fourth with four tenths of delay from the top.
Mueller ends in fifth, Frijns in sixth. The two McLarens finish in seventh and eighth place, with Barnard ahead of Bird. Dennis is ninth, and Buemi ends up being tenth. Last place for Beckmann. The combination of the times gives the pole position to Cassidy.
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