Bird rebounds to head Jaguar 1-2 in New York FE qualifying

Sam Bird rebounded from a “rollercoaster” opening day in New York to claim pole position for the second race of the double-header, ahead of his Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans.

Scattered rain showers across the New York E-Prix circuit created an unusual scenario whereby the top six drivers in the championship didn’t face as big a disadvantage as usual by running in group one.

This allowed Jaguar’s Mitch Evans to progress into superpole from group one while defending champion Antonio Felix da Costa claimed seventh place on the grid, just 0.014s shy of a place in the pole position shootout.

Evans pipped Saturday polesitter Nick Cassidy by 0.001s to lead the qualifying session with only his team-mate Bird to set his time.

Bird crashed in practice, collided with Oliver Rowland in qualifying and then charged to ninth place in the race yesterday.

But on Sunday he faced no such troubles with two stunning laps. The first earned him a point for topping group stage qualifying and the second earned him his first pole of the season – and his first since moving to Jaguar.

Evans completed the Jaguar 1-2, with Cassidy third on the grid for Envision Virgin.

Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein began to make amends for his race one-ending error with fourth place on the grid.

Sergio Sette Camara delivered a stunning lap in group stage qualifying to deny da Costa a place in superpole and he claimed fifth on the grid.

Andre Lotterer made his third superpole appearance of the season for Porsche but was slowest and will start from sixth place.

The Mahindra duo of Alex Lynn and Alexander Sims were eighth and ninth behind da Costa. The top 10 was rounded out by FE rookie Norman Nato.

Rene Rast qualified in 11th place, one place ahead of his Audi team-mate Lucas di Grassi, who picked up his second podium in three races yesterday.

It was a difficult session for Nissan e.dams with Oliver Rowland 16th and Saturday group stage topper Sebastien Buemi only 13th.

Buemi qualified one place higher than championship leader Edoardo Mortara who was 14th for Venturi.

It's ALL happening in Group 1!@JeanEricVergne slows on track and is unable to set a lap. The @DSTECHEETAH driver will now be starting towards the back of the grid 😱

Click here for live updates 👉 https://t.co/3p66k7GK3d

🇺🇸 2021 ABB #NYCEPrix pic.twitter.com/T4TrUTcK0t

— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) July 11, 2021

 

Two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne, who finished second in Saturday’s race, slowed while on his flying lap in the first group with an issue. He’ll start race two from the back row of the grid alongside race one victor Maximilian Guenther.

Robin Frijns is tied on points with Mortara at the top of the standings but he’ll start down in 21st after setting a lap that was 1.4s slower than the group one benchmark.

Mercedes’ woeful weekend continued with Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries qualifying down in 20th and 22nd place respectively.

Qualifying Results