Alexander Sims has taken his debut pole in Formula E at Season 5’s final race, knocking Sebastien Buemi out of championship contention.
Vergne came into the final day with a 22-point lead, sliced heavily into after failing to score at all yesterday. Di Grassi, Buemi and Evans remained in contention before qualifying – but with Buemi and Evans both needing pole in order to keep their hopes even mathematically alive.
Group One: Jean-Eric Vergne, Lucas di Grassi, Mitch Evans, Sebastien Buemi, Antonio Felix da Costa
All cars, as usual for Group One, tried to leave it until the last possible moment – forcing them out together, Di Grassi and Vergne extremely close on their out lap.
Vergne was the first to hit his hot lap but reported low grip, ending fourth in the group while Buemi and Evans put in competitive times for potential Super Pole contention.
Qualifying 1
Position | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.Dams | 1’10.003 |
2 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar | 1’10.063 |
3 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi | 1’10.255 |
4 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | 1’10.278 |
5 | Antonio Felix da Costa | BMWi Andretti | 1’10.389 |
Group Two: Andre Lotterer, Daniel Abt, Robin Frijns, Sam Bird, Jerome D’Ambrosio
Times would have been expected to fall as the track developed, rubber going down and despite an interesting manoeuvre by Vergne that seemed to be deliberately re-dusting the track on his in-lap, they did.
Daniel Abt ended Group Two on top, shoving Vergne out of Super Pole contention and leaving Buemi and Evans unlikely to get the pole they needed.
Qualifying 2
Position | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Daniel Abt | Audi | 1’09.902 |
2 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin | 1’09.912 |
3 | Sam Bird | Envision Virgin | 1’09.925 |
4 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Mahindra | 1’10.504 |
5 | Andre Lotterer | DS Techeetah | 1’10.699 |
Group Three: Oliver Rowland, Pascal Wehrlein, Edoardo Mortara, Felipe Massa, Alexander Sims, Stoffel Vandoorne
Alexander Sims had put in an excellent performance yesterday and after dogging Rowland on their out laps, went immediately fastest. Stoffel Vandoorne was able to join him in Super Pole contention while Mortara and Rowland came close but unable to beat Buemi’s time.
Felipe Massa span on his hot lap, leaving him without a representative qualifying time.
Qualifying 3
Position | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexander Sims | BMWi Andretti | 1’09.690 |
2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | HWA AG | 1’09.856 |
3 | Oliver Rowland | Envision Virgin | 1’10.052 |
4 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | 1’10.217 |
5 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mahindra | 1’10.574 |
6 | Felipe Massa | Venturi | 1’19.831 |
Group Four: Maximilian Guenther, Alexander Lynn, Gary Paffett, Oliver Turvey, Jose-Maria Lopez, Tom Dillmann
Alex Lynn had looked strong here until a mechanical failure yesterday – and is already set to start at the back, with a 20-place grid penalty. He was unable to convert that into a Super Pole appearance, an error leaving him over a second and a half off Buemi’s time and unable to help his teammate Evans’ title hopes.
Gary Paffett looked in contention to join Vandoorne in Super Pole, however he was significantly impeded by Tom Dillmann, on the racing line on a slow lap and ended up 9th overall.
Qualifying 4
Position | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Gary Paffett | HWA AG | 1’10.155 |
2 | Jose-Maria Lopez | GEOX Dragon | 1’10.352 |
3 | Oliver Turvey | NIO | 1’10.439 |
4 | Tom Dillmann | NIO | 1’10.573 |
5 | Maximilian Guenther | GEOX Dragon | 1’10.653 |
6 | Alexander Lynn | Panasonic Jaguar | 1’12.537 |
Super Pole: Sebastien Buemi, Sam Bird, Robin Frijns, Daniel Abt, Stoffel Vandoorne, Alexander Sims
Buemi, who needed the pole or to give up on the championship, was first out and set a very competitive 1’09.729 (given Super Pole times are generally slower than group qualifying) and next-out Sam Bird was unable to beat him.
However, a stunningly risky lap by Robin Frijns that saw him brush the wall twice put him on 1’09.712 and on provisional pole. Abt was unable to get close to the time he’d set in group qualifying, ending on a 1’10.096 and Vandoorne slid the back end out on turn nine to lose out by a few tenths.
Sims, who had set the fastest time in groups, was able to repeat his performance and took the fastest time in Super Pole by a tenth from Frijns.
Buemi is now out of the championship fight, with Evans needing the win, fastest lap and for Vergne not to score and Di Grassi needing the win and fastest lap and for Vergne to finish no higher than ninth. Vergne and Di Grassi will start the race next to each other.
Qualifying 2
Position | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexander Sims | BMWi Andretti | 1’09.617 |
2 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin | 1’09.712 |
3 | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.Dams | 1’09.729 |
4 | Sam Bird | Envision Virgin | 1’09.895 |
5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | HWA AG | 1’09.994 |
6 | Daniel Abt | Audi | 1’10.096 |
7 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.Dams | 1’10.052 |
8 | Mitch Evans | Panasonic Jaguar | 1’10.063 |
9 | Gary Paffett | HWA AG | 1’10.155 |
10 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | 1’10.217 |
11 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi | 1’10.255 |
12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | 1’10.278 |
13 | Jose Maria Lopez | GEOX Dragon | 1’10.352 |
14 | Antonio Felix da Costa | BMWi Andretti | 1’10.369 |
15 | Oliver Turvey | NIO | 1’10.439 |
16 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Mahindra | 1’10.504 |
17 | Tom Dillmann | NIO | 1’10.573 |
18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mahindra | 1’10.574 |
19 | Maximilian Guenther | GEOX Dragon | 1’10.653 |
20 | Andre Lotterer | DS Techeetah | 1’10.669 |
21 | Alexander Lynn | Panasonic Jaguar | 1’12.537 |
22 | Felipe Massa | Venturi | 1’19.831 |
Roltec (@roltec)
14th July 2019, 18:46
excited for the title decider, shame Buemi isn’t in it after all.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
14th July 2019, 19:44
Until I saw the author in the byline, I thought “Sims” referred to something eSports related. :)
PT (@pt)
15th July 2019, 10:58
Exciting write-up, Hazel!
I have to say, Mahindra is an example of how not to win the championship. For the 2nd consecutive season, they’ve started with championship contention thanks to wins and podiums, but then they drifted away and away to the mid-field. Just what’s wrong with the team? And in the recent races, both d’Ambrosio and Wehrlein have been making too many mistakes and have been totally off-colour.