Wehrlein claims second Formula E pole position in Paris

Pascal Wehrlein has taken pole at the Paris Eprix, after a close fight with Oliver Rowland in Super Pole, becoming the first Formula E driver to achieve two pole positions this season.

Qualifying in Paris was in dry, cool conditions, after mixed practice sessions earlier in the day. All drivers were able to compete in the sessions, despite both Envision Virgin cars having taken heavy damage in first practice, which prevented Sam Bird running in the second session.

Second practice had been topped by Mitch Evans but he was unable to replicate his performance in group qualifying with a lap a second back from the pace. He said that the lack of performance was a mystery, as the lap had felt as though it was considerably better.

Qualifying 1

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Jerome D’Ambrosio	Mahindra	1’00.669
2	Andre Lotterer	TDS Techeetah	1’00.738
3	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1’00.761
4	Antonio Felix da Costa	BMWi Andretti	1’00.952
5	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	1’01.243

Robin Frijns set the fastest time in Group Two while team mate Bird and previous Paris winner Jean-Eric Vergne were unable to put together competitive laps, both several tenths off provisional Super Pole times.

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Qualifying 2

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin	1’00.583
2	Daniel Abt	Audi	1’00.739
3	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	1’00.801
4	Jean-Eric Vergne	DS Techeetah	1’00.866
5	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin	1’00.928

Group Three proved the quickest of all, with three drivers immediately gaining control of the timesheet and comfortable Super Pole qualification. Oliver Rowland performed the best, with Pascal Wehrlein and Sebastien Buemi just behind him. Meanwhile Sims and Vandoorne struggled in increasingly windy conditions that seemed to be making some cars harder to control.

Qualifying 3

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.Dams	1’00.450
2	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra	1’00.549
3	Sebastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	1’00.574
4	Felipe Massa	Venturi	1’00.709
5	Alexander Sims	BMWi Andretti	1’01.037
6	Stoffel Vandoorne	HWA AG	1’01.471

Group Four made no improvements on Group Three but Maximilian Guenther, returning again to Dragon but without the promise of finishing the season there, put together an exceptional lap to come seventh but just miss out on Super Pole, while teammate Lopez ruined his own lap with a spin.

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Qualifying 4

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Maximilian Guenther	GEOX Dragon	1’00.719
2	Tom Dillman	NIO	1’00.784
3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1’00.876
4	Alex Lynn	Jaguar	1’01.012
5	Gary Paffett	HWA AG	1’01.135
6	Jose-Maria Lopez	GEOX Dragon	1’07.494

Super Pole, as was often the case in previous seasons, saw the track deteriorate relative to group qualifying, with enough time for a dusting of heavy tree pollen to coat it after the group sessions. Times in the session were substantially slower than those in group sessions, with Massa and D’Ambrosio falling behind their own times by several tenths.

However, Pascal Wehrlein was able to – going out second-to-last – make a substantial gain to take provisional pole on a 1’00.383 to which Rowland couldn’t produce an answer.

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Super Pole

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra	1’00.383
2	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.Dams	1’00.535
3	Sebastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	1’00.768
4	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin	1’00.793
5	Felipe Massa	Venturi	1’01.217
6	Jerome D’Ambrosio	Mahindra	1’01.307

Formula E

• Formula E unveils 200mph, 4WD Gen3 Evo, boasting 0-60 time 30% quicker than F1
• Wehrlein wins second Misano race after Rowland’s last lap heartache
• Da Costa disqualified from first Misano race, handing Rowland win
• Da Costa becomes sixth different winner in six rounds in first Misano race
• Aron and Eriksson to replace WEC-bound Buemi and Frijns at Envision in Berlin

Browse all Formula E articles