Vandoorne takes first pole in wet Hong Kong qualifying

Near-torrential rain could not stop Formula E rookie Stoffel Vandoorne from beating the series’ roster of more experienced talent to take his first pole position in Hong Kong.

As always, qualifying groups were decided by championship order, with the points-leaders in the first group. It had rained just prior to and in between both free practice sessions and another cloud burst ended just a few minutes before qualifying, leaving the track glossy with water as the first cars went out.

Conditions on track were so severely compromised that times with this year’s car (and 50kW more power) were nearly 10 seconds slower than last year’s pole over just a 1.156 mile track. With water flooding the floor of tent garages, teams were working in extremely difficult conditions to continue the sessions at all.

Group One: Jerome D’Ambrosio, Antonio Felix da Costa, Sam Bird, Lucas di Grassi, Pascal Wehrlein

Sam Bird set the first decently-paced lap of qualifying, with a 1’12.529 after neither Mahindra could breach 1’14 – however, Lucas di Grassi, last out in the session, was able to put together a 1’12.321 for a potential Super Pole place and the top of some not overly impressive times.

Qualifying 1

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1’12.321
2	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin	1’12.529
3	Antonio Felix da Costa	BMWi Andretti	1’14.384
4	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra	1’14.830
5	Jerome D’Ambrosio	Mahindra	1’15.347

Group Two: Andre Lotterer, Robin Frijns, Jean-Eric Vergne, Mitch Evans, Edoardo Mortara

Mitch Evans seemed to be on promising form, as the first driver to set a hot lap and immediately getting into P3 but over a second and a half back from Di Grassi. Both Mortara and Lotterer put together very impressive laps, easily besting Evans and taking the top two times of the session so far.

Jean-Eric Vergne, who last year took pole here by sliding backwards over the line, almost repeated the feat. However, where he managed to save the lap and car last year, this time his much scrappier lap ended in hitting both the front and back of his car, causing damage that left it stranded on track and brought out a red flag. As he was unable to complete the Parc Ferme procedure for qualifying, his severely compromised time was then completely deleted to leave him at the back of the grid.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Qualifying 2

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Edoardo Mortara	Audi	1’12.156
2	Andre Lotterer	Envision Virgin	1’12.204
3	Robin Frijns	BMWi Andretti	1’12.600
4	Mitch Evans	Mahindra	1’13.920
5	Jean-Eric Vergne	DS Techeetah	DSQ’00.000

Group Three: Daniel Abt, Alexander Sims, Sebastien Buemi, Oliver Rowland, Oliver Turvey, Felipe Massa

Another short burst of rain came down before group three, preventing any potential advantage being taken from a drying track. Felipe Massa, who made his first Super Pole session in Mexico, was the first driver in the group to go to 250kW and set a 1’12.570.

However, Oliver Rowland set the star time with a 1’12.140 – comfortably the fastest time so far and nearly four tenths ahead of his teammate Sebastien Buemi, who only managed a 1’12.529.

Qualifying 3

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Rowland	Nissan E.Dams	1’12.140
2	Sebastien Buemi	Nissan E.Dams	1’12.529
3	Felipe Massa	Venturi	1’12.570
4	Daniel Abt	Audi	1’12.850
5	Alexander Sims	BMWi Andretti	1’12.839
6	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1’14.133

Group Four: Jose-Maria Lopez, Nelson Piquet Jr, Tom Dillman, Gary Paffett, Stoffel Vandoorne, Felipe Nasr

Group four took to the track in potentially one of the driest conditions it had achieved all day, although greasy would still be a mild description for the waterlogged tarmac.

Following Mortara’s impressive performance in group two, both HWA cars (powered by the Venturi powertrain) performed extremely well, with Gary Paffett making an initial bid for pole on a 1’12.093 only to be bested by Stoffel Vandoorne, who seized the best group time by miles with a 1’11.592 – nearly half a second ahead of anyone else.

Qualifying 4

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Stoffel Vandoorne	HWA AG	1’11.592
2	Gary Paffett	HWA AG	1’12.093
3	Tom Dillman	NIO	1’12.839
4	Jose-Maria Lopez	GEOX Dragon	1’13.073
5	Nelson Piquet Jr	Jaguar	1’13.421
6	Felipe Nasr	GEOX Dragon	1’13.885

Super Pole: Stoffel Vandoorne, Gary Paffett, Oliver Rowland, Edoardo Mortara, Andre Lotterer, Lucas di Grassi

Another burst of rain just before Super Pole revised any improvements during the final group session, sending a no-doubt-disgruntled Lucas di Grassi out onto a freshly wet track to an unsurprisingly non-stellar time.

Rowland bested his standout group performance to a 1’11.903 but Vandoorne once again proved unbeatable in the conditions, taking his debut Formula E pole by several tenths on a 1’11.580

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Superpole

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Stoffel Vandoorne	Venturi	1’11.580
2	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.Dams	1’11.903
3	Gary Paffett	Venturi	1’12.310
4	Andre Lotterer	DS Techeetah	1’13.033
5	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1’14.177

Full qualifying results:

Qualifying

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Stoffel Vandoorne	Venturi	1’11.580
2	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.Dams	1’11.903
3	Gary Paffett	Venturi	1’12.310
4	Andre Lotterer	DS Techeetah	1’13.033
5	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1’14.177
6	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin	1’12.529
7	Sebastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	1’12.529
8	Felipe Massa	Venturi	1’12.570
9	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin	1’12.600
10	Tom Dillman	NIO	1’12.839
11	Daniel Abt	Audi	1’12.850
12	Alexander Sims	BMWi Andretti	1’12.861
13	Jose-Maria Lopez	GEOX Dragon	1’13.073
14	Nelson Piquet Jr	Jaguar	1’13.421
15	Felipe Nasr	GEOX Dragon	1’13.885
16	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	1’13.920
17	Olvier Turvey	NIO	1’14.133
18	Antonio Felix da Costa	BMWi Andretti	1’14.384
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra	1’14.830
20	Jerome D’Ambrosio	Mahindra	1’15.347
21	Jean-Eric Vergne	DS Techeetah	DSQ’00.000

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula E

• Wehrlein beats Jaguar pair to title in dramatic Formula E finale
• Wehrlein’s London win sets up thrilling three-way title showdown in finale
• Da Costa takes hat-trick of wins in chaotic second Portland race
• Da Costa inherits Portland win from Evans after Cassidy spins lead away
• Da Costa controls second Shanghai race as Cassidy extends championship lead

Browse all Formula E articles