Nick Cassidy took pole position for Race 2 of the Formula E London E-Prix in what will be his final race for the Jaguar TCS Racing team.
Cassidy was defeated in the final by Dan Ticktum, but a grid penalty given yesterday meant he would start first.
Maximilian Guenther was second, with Mitch Evans third, who deliberately slowed in his semi-final duel with Cassidy to ensure him a place in the final in a team game.
Pascal Wehrlein would be in fourth, with Nyck de Vries fifth, as Ticktum’s penalty left him to start sixth.
Stoffel Vandoorne was seventh, with Edoardo Mortara eighth, and the Nissans of Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland rounding up the top 10.
Group A began with a disaster for Antonio Felix da Costa, who went straight on down the escape road into Turn 1, and being told to stop the car due to a technical problem.
The session was red flagged with Porsche able to try and remedy da Costa’s problems, with Cassidy itching to get back out.
He went second fastest with Mortara’s 1:08.583s the best so far, with team-mate de Vries popping up into second place.
Evans was in fourth, with da Costa confirmed to not be going back out, putting him at the back of the grid for the race.
Evans improved to go second, with Cassidy also leapfrogging de Vries, with Mortara staying top.
Oliver Rowland was once again out at the first hurdle of qualifying, surely relieved the title fight did not go down to this weekend.
Group B began with the two DS Penskes first and second, with Jean-Eric Vergne top, but Vandoorne quickly displaced them at the top, with Sebastien Buemi also getting into the leading four cars.
Vergne went wide on his second run, putting him in the danger zone as he was now seventh, with Wehrlein and Ticktum getting up the order, the Englishman going top.
Taylor Barnard couldn’t make it through, with Guenther improving on his time to ensure his safety into the duel phase.
Ticktum, Wehrlein and Vandoorne would be the others through, with the four Nissan-powered cars all failing to make it through for the second race running.
Jaguars storm through
The first duel pitted Evans against de Vries, the Saturday pole-sitter against the Saturday podium-finisher.
Evans was two thousandths down at Sector 1, but was then a tenth up, and then three tenths up, his 1:07.473s enough to see him through.
The second Jag of Cassidy made up the next duel with the second Mahindra of Mortara. Mortara may well have been confident but locked up at Turn 1, going straight off into the escape road and ending his duel before it began.
A brake-by-wire problem caused the lock-up, leaving Cassidy to continue on to set a 1:07.130s, three tenths up on his team-mate.
The third quarter-final placed Wehrlein against Guenther, an all-German affair.
Wehrlein’s Porsche was a tenth up after the first sector, which is how it continued towards the end of the lap.
But Guenther managed to find more time in the final sector to ensure his 1:07.316s was enough to go through.
Vandoorne, who qualified well on Saturday, was against home favourite Ticktum in the final duel.
Ticktum was two tenths up in Sector 1 and then a further tenth up in the second. And then in the third, it was eighth tenths.
The Kiro man’s 1:07.021s was quicker than the Maserati by almost a whole second, a whole tenth quicker that Cassidy’s time.
Jaguars play team game as Cassidy takes pole despite Ticktum’s stellar lap
The first semi-final pitted the two Jaguars together, with and Cassidy a hundredth ahead midway through the lap, he locked-up and handed Evans the final place.
But he didn’t, as Evans slowed at the end of his lap, so much so that Cassidy’s clumsy lap was half-a-second quicker, perhaps a tactic to ensure Cassidy can finish second in the championship.
With Ticktum’s five-place grid penalty going to take effect, it ensured that Cassidy would take pole, further emphasising the team game.
The second semi was Guenther v Ticktum and it was the home favourite up by a tenth in Sector 1.
Ticktum’s 1:07.037s secured a final place by two tenths, setting up a battle royale between him and Cassidy for pole.
The final, although academic, went ahead with Cassidy slightly down on Ticktum in Sector 1, and in Sector 2, it was now a tenth, and then two and by the end, his 1:07.278s was enough for the effective pole positon and three points.
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