Mercedes claimed its first Formula E pole position with Stoffel Vandoorne in qualifying for the final race of the 2019/20 season at Berlin Tempelhof.
Vandoorne’s 1m15.468s superpole lap kept him just 0.059s ahead of Nissan e.dams’ group qualifying pacesetter Sebastien Buemi at the end of the session.
Mercedes had held a provisional front row sweep midway through superpole as Vandoorne led Nyck de Vries, but the latter was ultimately pushed back to fourth.
Though the result is officially Mercedes’ first Formula E pole position, the HWA team that entered the 2018/19 championship in preparation for the works effort did take pole with Vandoorne in Hong Kong last season on a drying track.
Rene Rast followed up his first Formula E podium last night by taking third on the grid as he continues to star for Audi following his call-up to the electric series for the Berlin week.
Robin Frijns and Edoardo Mortara completed the pole shootout sextet and share row three.
Alex Lynn narrowly missed out on another superpole appearance and starts seventh, ahead of Porsche’s outgoing – but improving – driver Neel Jani.
Though the fourth qualifying group had presumably the best of the track conditions, Dragon’s Berlin signing Sergio Sette Camara was the only driver from it to make the top 10 on the grid. He starts alongside Lucas di Grassi on row five.
Though there was no repeat of Wednesday’s chaos and controversy in group one, its participants were all too slow to get near superpole as track evolution again proved considerable on the final iteration of the Tempelhof track.
BMW’s Maximilian Guenther was fastest among the first group but starts down in 18th, one place ahead of champion Antonio Felix da Costa.
Last night’s polesitter and race winner Oliver Rowland fared worst of all – he’ll start last on the grid for the season finale.
Wednesday podium contender Andre Lotterer, double champion Jean-Eric Vergne and erstwhile title fight protagonist Mitch Evans ended up 20th, 21st and 23rd respectively.
Evans’s temporary Jaguar team-mate Tom Blomqvist again performed well to qualify 12th.
Qualifying Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Car | Group 1 | Group 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team | Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 | 1m15.717s | 1m15.468s |
| 2 | Sébastien Buemi | Nissan e.DAMS | Nissan IM02 | 1m15.66s | 1m15.527s |
| 3 | René Rast | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team | Audi e-tron FE06 | 1m15.688s | 1m15.72s |
| 4 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team | Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 | 1m15.729s | 1m15.738s |
| 5 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | Audi e-tron FE06 | 1m15.793s | 1m15.867s |
| 6 | Edoardo Mortara | ROKiT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 | 1m15.848s | 1m16.055s |
| 7 | Alex Lynn | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra M6Electro | 1m15.851s | |
| 8 | Neel Jani | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | Porsche 99X Electric | 1m15.861s | |
| 9 | Sérgio Sette Câmara | Geox Dragon | Penske EV-4 | 1m15.904s | |
| 10 | Lucas Di Grassi | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team | Audi e-tron FE06 | 1m15.915s | |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | ROKiT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01 | 1m15.937s | |
| 12 | Tom Blomqvist | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | Jaguar I-Type IV | 1m15.958s | |
| 13 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 FE Team | NIO FE-005 | 1m15.958s | |
| 14 | Sam Bird | Envision Virgin Racing | Audi e-tron FE06 | 1m16.002s | |
| 15 | Alexander Sims | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | BMW iFE.20 | 1m16.028s | |
| 16 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra M6Electro | 1m16.057s | |
| 17 | Daniel Abt | NIO 333 FE Team | NIO FE-005 | 1m16.109s | |
| 18 | Maximilian Günther | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | BMW iFE.20 | 1m16.134s | |
| 19 | António Félix da Costa | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE20 | 1m16.176s | |
| 20 | André Lotterer | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | Porsche 99X Electric | 1m16.317s | |
| 21 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE20 | 1m16.393s | |
| 22 | Nico Müller | Geox Dragon | Penske EV-4 | 1m16.409s | |
| 23 | Mitch Evans | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | Jaguar I-Type IV | 1m16.449s | |
| 24 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.DAMS | Nissan IM02 | 1m16.993s |
