In the first qualifying session of the Gen3 Formula E era, Lucas Di Grassi took pole position for the Mexico City E-Prix, beating Jake Dennis in the duels final.
Making his maiden appearance with his new team Mahindra, Di Grassi put his car on pole in an eventful final duel where both the drivers made costly mistakes.
The pair last faced off in a duels final in London during Season 8, where Dennis triumphed over Di Grassi. Di Grassi has raced in every single Formula E race and is the most successful driver around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
On the other side of the Mahindra garage, the session could not have gone any different, with Oliver Rowland unable to set a lap in the group stages and starting from the back of the grid.
The biggest shock from the session came from the DS Penske garage with neither Season 8 champion Stoffel Vandoorne nor his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne making it through to the duels. They will start 14th and 11th on the grid respectively despite showing lightning pace in practice.
Maserati’s testing triumphs will be well and truly behind them as neither of their cars made it through to the duels stage. Eduardo Mortara and Maximillian Gunther will start 16th and 17th.
After coming out of testing pessimistic about their Porsche-supplied car’s potential Andretti stormed through qualifying arguably as the quicker car. It was the mistakes from both drivers that cost them, Lotterer making his in the semi-final against the pole sitter.
Dennis was lucky not to have been beaten in the quarter-finals too, hitting the wall and damaging his front wing in the duel against Pascal Wehrlein – thankfully a four-tenths buffer saved him.
Both rookies made it through to the duels in their first qualifying with Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz being beaten by Andretti’s Andre Lotterer by four-hundredths. He will start his second Formula E race and first of the Gen3 era from P8.
Fellow rookie Jake Hughes made it all the way through to the semi-final, coming third in Group B and then beating Dan Ticktum by less than two-hundredths of a second. Hughes will line up P3 for the Mexico City E-Prix while his team-mate Rene Rast will start 15th.
NIO333 started the Gen3 era on a very positive note, after a number of years languishing at the back of the grid. Sergio Sette Camara was unlucky not to make it through to the duels in Group A in his first appearance for the Chinese manufacturer. The Brazilian will start in 13th place.
Ticktum made his second career appearance in the duels, coming second in Group B to advance through. He was unfortunate to not make it further, being the only driver other than Hughes to set a time in the 1:12s in the quarter-finals. The Briton will start P5 on the grid alongside Wehrlein.
The Mexico City E-Prix will start at 14:03 local time.
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