Frijns leads shock Abt Formula E front row lockout in Berlin

Robin Frijns led an unlikely Abt Cupra one-two in qualifying for the second Formula E race of the Berlin double-header.

The first rain-affected qualifying of the Gen3 era allowed the Abt Cupra team to finally shine after a torrid 2023 season.

The team – a former frontrunning partner of Audi in Formula E – hadn’t scored a single point prior to Sunday in Berlin and lost its star driver Robin Frijns for four races after he picked up serious hand and wrist injuries at the Mexico City season-opener.

Frijns returned to action in Sao Paulo last month and shined in mixed conditions in Berlin on Sunday, beating team-mate Nico Mueller by over six tenths of a second in the final duel to secure his second pole position in Formula E.

It also marks Frijns and Abt Cupra’s first points of the 2023 season and second is Mueller’s best qualifying ever in Formula E with sixth place his previous best.

Sebastien Buemi lost out to his Envision team-mate Nick Cassidy in a tense quarter final face-off by just 0.050s but earned a reprieve when Cassidy was disqualified for deploying his 350kW power too early.

He lost out to Frijns in the semi final by over three tenths but was faster than the other semi final loser – Jean-Eric Vergne, defeated by Mueller – so takes third on the grid.

Back-to-back race winner Evans was the fastest of the quarter final losers and earns fifth on the grid for Jaguar. He’ll start ahead of the championship leader Pascal Wehrlein who took sixth in his factory Porsche.

Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who is trying to bounce back from a disastrous crash in the first race, was promoted to seventh on the grid by Cassidy’s disqualification from the duels.

Cassidy will start eighth ahead of the fastest drivers to miss out on a place in the duels – Formula E champions Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske) and Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche).

Sam Bird and Dan Ticktum couldn’t replicate their Saturday duel appearances and ended up 11th and 13th in qualifying. Ticktum will start 18th after picking up a penalty for clashing with Vandoorne yesterday.

Maserati’s Maximilian Gunther came crashing back to earth after his first podium (and points) of 2023 on Saturday by setting the slowest lap of his qualifying group. He’ll share the back row of the grid with Nissan’s Norman Nato.

Qualifying Results