DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne has taken pole position for this morning’s Shanghai E-Prix.
The French veteran continued his team’s one-lap pace with a brilliant final lap [0:1:13:322s] to take top spot ahead of Nissan’s Oliver Rowland [1:13.360s]. Mitch Evans was third [1:13.359], with Pascal Wehrlein fourth [1:13.624s], Jake Hughes fifth [1:13.483s] and Antonio Felix da Costa sixth [1:13.693s].
Norman Nato was seventh [1:13.824s], with Vergne’s team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne eighth [1:13.861s], Robin Frijns ninth, and title-leader Nick Cassidy down in tenth.
HOW QUALIFYING UNFOLDED
GROUPS:
Group A would see just two tenths separate all 11 cars, and some high-profile casualties to boot, with Max Günther and title-leader Nick Cassidy failing to make the cut. Vandoorne went fastest [1:14.242] with Rowland [+0.010s], Nato [+0.058s, fastest man in FP2] and Evans [+0.065s] following him.
Group B would see Jake Dennis – pole sitter in Berlin – fail to make it through, with Hughes fastest after a committed final lap of 1:14.140. Vergne would ensure a double interest for Penske in the duels [+0.004s], with da Costa [+0.101s] and Wehrlein [+0.106s] completing the top four.
DUELS:
The first of the duels would see Nato paired-up against Rowland, and the Nissan man would sneak through by -0.068s despite the Frenchman sneaking his car into the 1:13.000s.
In Evans versus Vandoorne, a mistake by the Belgian in sector one cost him time and a place in the semis, with Evans faster by three tenths.
By contrast, the first sector would be the deciding factor for the sister Penske of Vergne, producing a mega start of his lap to help him through and defeat da Costa by only 0.006s, the Portuguese making-up time in the final sector but would not make-up enough to save him from elimination.
Hughes’ one-lap pace still looked strong against Wehrlein, but the Porsche’s pace was too strong for the Brit, with Wehrlein producing the fastest time of the duels, setting a time of 1:13.449s
SEMI-FINALS:
Rowland, usually racing through the field to earn his results, would sneak through to the final by just 0.001s over Evans, the Jaguar’s final sector the determining factor.
In Vergne v Wehrlein, it would be the Frenchman through with a 1:13.471, over a tenth faster due to a small mistake from Wehrlein in the final sector.
FINAL:
Vergne set the fastest time of the whole of qualifying, saving his best for the final, taking pole with a 1:13.322. Rowland ran him close the whole way, and would miss out on pole by just under 0.040s.
