Edoardo Mortara claimed his fourth pole position of the 2025/26 Formula E season at the Tokyo E-Prix, matching the record for most poles in a single campaign and handing Mahindra Racing an unprecedented result in the process.
The Swiss driver saw off Antonio Felix da Costa in the Duels Final to take the top spot for Round 15, a result that also ended a run of seven consecutive poles for Porsche-powered machinery. It’s the first time Mahindra has taken four poles in one Formula E season, and Mortara’s tally now matches the mark Jean-Eric Vergne set for Techeetah back in 2017/18.
Group stages
Da Costa headed Group A ahead of teammate Evans, with Barnard and Nato also progressing through a group that tightened considerably as the track dried — just 0.7 seconds covered the top nine by the closing runs. Porsche’s Nico Müller ran wide at Turn 16 and missed the cut, while Saturday’s race winner Jake Dennis could only manage ninth and fell at the first hurdle.
Group B went the way of Mortara, with de Vries backing him up in second for a strong Mahindra showing. Ticktum, fresh off his Saturday win, took third, with Rowland squeezing through in fourth — a result that pushed both Nissan drivers into the knockout stages on home soil. Title contender Pascal Wehrlein, still recovering from a Saturday retirement, was hampered by a mechanical issue and ended up sixth in the group.
Conditions played their part throughout the session. A heavy thunderstorm swept through earlier in the day, wiping out the final free practice session, and qualifying itself took place on a track that was still drying out.
Quarter-Finals
In the Quarter-Finals, championship leader Mitch Evans was eliminated by Barnard despite arriving in Tokyo with two wins and five podiums to his name this season — a pole position remains the one result to elude him so far. Da Costa progressed at the expense of Nissan’s Norman Nato, while Ticktum comfortably saw off Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries by close to half a second. Mortara’s own Quarter-Final was over almost as soon as it started, with reigning champion Oliver Rowland running into the run-off area at Turn negotiating his sole lap, gifting Mortara a 1.2-second margin into the next round.
Semi-Finals
Mortara’s route to pole began by beating Dan Ticktum in the first Semi-Final, before getting the better of da Costa in the deciding Duel. Da Costa had reached the Final off the back of victory over Taylor Barnard in the other semi — only his second Semi-Final win from five attempts this season.
Final
Mortara looked every inch the favourite going into the final, his Mahindra having been so dialled-in throughout the process. Da Costa immediately put himself on the back foot with a sloppy first sector, but had he driven his leap cleanly, it was unlikely that Mortara would have been defeated.
Sailing to the line, a 1:12.341s secured pole position by seven tenths of a second from da Costa, the Portuguese still yet to score a pole position in the Gen3 era.
The grid threatens to blow the title race wide open as Race 1 did, provided the rain stays away enough for the race to take place uninterrupted.
READ MORE – Formula E 2026 Tokyo E-Prix – Race 2 Qualifying Results
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