Vandoorne gives Mercedes first Formula E pole since April

Stoffel Vandoorne claimed his second Formula E pole position for Mercedes EQ by topping a rain-sprinkled qualifying ahead of the final London E-Prix of the weekend.

Vandoorne eclipsed Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland by just 0.041s with a 1m20.181s to take the top spot in superpole with a committed lap around the part-indoor, part-outdoor ExCel Arena venue.

The result is Mercedes’ first Formula E pole since Vandoorne took the top spot in Rome qualifying in April.

Mahindra’s Alex Lynn topped the group stage of qualifying despite a brush with the wall but he missed out on a double pole on home soil by just 0.067s and will start race two from third on the grid.

Nyck de Vries made it two Mercedes EQ cars in the top four even though he ran in the first qualifying group – his advancement to superpole was partly aided by inconsistent rain showers throughout the 45 minutes of qualifying.

De Vries – along with six other drivers – escaped with a €1000 fine for driving too slowly on the in-lap after their qualifying laps.

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans lost half a second with an error in the first corner and will start from fifth ahead of Maximilian Guenther who was slowest of the six drivers in superpole, although the BMW i Andretti driver was only 0.217s slower than the pole time.

Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein was beaten to a place in superpole by de Vries by a margin of just 0.058s.

Robin Frijns, who is fifth in the championship and just five points adrift of the lead, qualified in a strong eighth place despite running in the first qualifying group.

Dragon Penske Autosport’s Sergio Sette Camara was unable to replicate his Saturday superpole heroics but did set the fastest time in group four to qualify in ninth place ahead of Lucas di Grassi.

Nissan e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi will line up behind his former title adversary and alongside di Grassi’s Audi team-mate Rene Rast.

In his first qualifying session running in group one Jake Dennis – winner of Saturday’s London E-Prix – was 17th fastest.

Many of his fellow championship rivals also struggled, with Edoardo Mortara 20th and points leader Sam Bird down in 21st, just ahead of the DS Techeetah duo Antonio Felix da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne.

NIO333’s Oliver Turvey clipped the wall in the first sector and will line up alongside Vergne on the back row of the grid.

Qualifying Results