A strange qualifying for Round 10 of Season 6 in Formula E. Antonio Felix Da Costa has clinched the Championship but who can finish in the fight for the final top two spots.
As well as Da Costa topping the Driver’s Championship, his team, DS Techeetah have secured the Team Championship. Jean-Eric Vergne sits with 80 points in 2nd place but from 3rd to 6th, there is only 4 points in it. With the teams, between Nissan in 2nd and Envision Virgin, there is 19 points splitting them. Having 48 points up for grabs is sure to make Round 10 very interesting.
For the last double header, we see a third track layout, increasing from 10 to 16 turns. Continuing with Formula E’s qualifying format we have four group stages to fight for Super Pole. The the top six drivers move into Super Pole to see who can secure the Julius Baer Pole Position.
Starting with Group 1, we saw Da Costa, Vergne, Maximilian Gunther, Lucas Di Grassi, Sebastian Buemi and Mitch Evans. Evans was the first car to exit the pits with only 1 minute and 55 seconds remaining. The rest of the cars followed but with the circuit lap being 1 minute and 16 seconds, timing was extremely precarious. Cars began fighting with both DS Techeetah’s and Di Grassi swapping places to get ahead.
Da Costa and Di Grassi then went wheel to wheel and had a knock, knowing both of them were not guaranteed to set a lap. Evans and Gunther crossed the line but the rest of the group completely missed the green flag. This meant Da Costa, Vergne, Di Grassi and Buemi could not set a qualifying lap. Evans and Gunther flew round the track, putting in good sectors a piece. The Panasonic driver crossed the line to set a 1.16:395 but Gunther trumped him by 0.001 to srt a 1.16.394.
Then we had Group 2 consisting of, Andre Lotterer, Stoffel Vandoorne, Oliver Rowland, Sam Bird, Alexander Sims and Nyck De Vries. Due to the huge mistake by Group 1, cars began to leave the pits with 2 minutes and 10 seconds to go. As they completed their out laps, Rowland, the last car to leave the pits, crossed the line with only 10 seconds remaining. De Vries and Bird began fighting for track position but both drivers struggled.
Bird had a small scuff with the wall at turn 5, slotting him 6th. De Vries and his teammate, Vandoorne, did not have a good qualifying, both missing out on super pole. Rowland and Lotterer seemed to be improving in all sectors to try and put themselves in super pole contention. Lotterer put in a 1.16.241 but Rowland pushed even further to top the Porsche driver with a 1.16:191.
We then saw Group 3 take part with, Robin Frijns, Eduardo Mortara, Jerome D’Ambrosio, Daniel Abt, Felipe Massa and Alex Lynn. Both of the Venturi cars decided to take to the track with 2 minutes and 20 seconds to go, mirroring Group 2 to avoid a mishap like Group 1.
The first Venturi driver of Massa began putting in a very good lap with setting the fastest middle sector of anyone. With a little struggle in sector 3, Massa put himself in 3rd position. His teammate, Mortara, also did well and slotted in 4th, hoping to stay in for Super Pole. D’Ambrosio was down on sectors from Rowland which meant he missed out on super pole, slotting in 7th of his group. Frijns put himself in 2nd place but the Mahindra driver of Lynn drove his car extremely well and flew to the top with a 1.16:158.
Finally, Group 4 took to the circuit to fight with, Rene Rast, Neel Jani, Oliver Turvey, Nico Muller, Sergio Sette Camara and, entering in this round, Tom Blomqvist for Panasonic Jaguar Racing. Jani was the first to enter the circuit with 2 minutes and 40 seconds to go, the earliest time from all the groups. Muller followed and managed to set the fastest first sector of any driver. Muller had a decent lap and slotted in the top 10, starting in 9th place later in the E-Prix.
Most cars in the group seemed to be struggling but, just as we thought times would be falling, the track evolved super quick and cars began to fly. Camara and Turvey improving massively and placing in the top half of the grid. Camara in 8th and Turvey starting 11th. Jani had an earlier wobble at turn 1 but after improving in the final sector, put himself in 4th place. The final driver to set a lap was the Audi Sport driver of Rast who darted round the Berlin circuit and managed to go quickest of everyone with a 1.15.993.
The penultimate Super Pole for Season 6 consisted of, Rast, Jani, Rowland, Blomqvist, Frijns and Lynn. A very different Super Pole than what we expected. First, we saw Jani, who would set his best qualifying to date. Jani had a slide of the rear around turn 1 and used a lot of curb throughout sector 2 but the lap for the Swiss was very good and he set a benchmark of 1.16:052.
Up next, we saw Blomqvist in his 7th Formula E appearance go straight into Super Pole. The newcomer for this round has done a phenomenal job today for the Panasonic Jaguar team. Blomqvist was quite down in sector 1 but improved throughout sector 2. The British racing driver will start Round 10 in 6th positon.
We then saw another Brit, Rowland, push his car to fight for the Julius Baer Pole Position. The Nissan driver put in a very decent first sector but had a hesitant monent out of turn 7. The final seemed very promising despite a snap of oversteer in the final corner. Rowland crossed the line and took provisional pole with a 1.15.955.
Frijns for Envision Virgin Racing went on track next to see what he could acheive. His sector 1 was strong but lost time later in the lap. The Dutchman ot very close to the wall at the hairpin of turn 15 but still slotted his car in 2nd place.
Next we had Lynn, another replacement driver for Season 6 who got into Super Pole. Unfortunately, Lynn was already down in sector 1 and seemed quite away from Rowland’s time in the middle sector. With a little lock up at the hairpin, Lynn went 4th in the timings. Still, an impressive performance for the Mahindra cover driver.
Last but not least, we had the stand-in driver of Rast, to see if he could knock the Nissan driver off of pole. The lap seemed very fast and neat around the new corners but the Audi Sport driver could not match Rowland. Slotting himself ahead of Lynn for 4th, meaning Rowland wins the Julius Baer Pole Position and 3 extra points.
Speaking to Nicki Sheilds, Formula E commentator, after the session, Rowland expressed his feelings at gaining pole position, stating “I’ve been building up for a while now”. The British racing driver knew he needed to keep control to earn this reward, stating he should “be cool, calm and collected”. He may be happy with starting the E-Prix first, but knows there is another job at hand, saying that there is “plenty of things to manage but one step done”.
Round 10 of Season 6 is sure to be extremely fesity with newcomers at the top and all four champions starting dead last. Don’t forget to check back with Overtake Motorsport tonight for news and results of the E-Prix.
Feature Image Credit: Nissan e.dams Official Twitter Page
