Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport

Shanghai E-Prix: DS Penske's Vergne beats Rowland to Formula E pole

Vergne set a mighty opening sector at the Shanghai International Circuit, Formula E’s first visit to the venue which is using a different layout to the grand prix track.

Despite marginally losing time to Nissan’s Rowland over the final two sectors, Vergne’s 1m13.322s, the fastest time from the entirety of qualifying, was enough for his first pole since Diriyah earlier this year.

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans missed out on a spot in the final by just 0.001s against Rowland, as the Briton posted a 1m13.358s, which ended up as the fastest time from the entirety of qualifying.

A small mistake for Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein in the final sector cost the German in his semi-final duel against Vergne, having been a tenth up prior to that point on the lap.

Wehrlein had advanced having posted the quickest time in the quarter-final duel stage with a 1m13.449s, but which left him only 0.034s clear of McLaren’s Jake Hughes.

Wehrlein’s Porsche team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa missed out on progressing by only 0.006s against Vergne despite the Frenchman losing an advantage of more than two tenths in the final sector after a snap of oversteer through Turn 8.

Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E Team, Nissan e-4ORCE 04 (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

Rowland bested Andretti’s Norman Nato by 0.068s, as Evans advanced at the expense of the second DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne by a margin of nearly three tenths.

Current championship leader Nick Cassidy just missed out on a spot in the duels by only 0.009s, as less than three tenths covered all 11 drivers in the opening qualifying group.

Also missing out were Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, Maserati MSG’s Maximillian Guenther, Abt’s Lucas di Grassi and ERT’s Dan Ticktum.

The second Maserati MSG of Jehan Daruvala also failed to progress, the Indian driver almost colliding with Cassidy on the exit of Turn 9 while on a flying lap, as Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz completed the order.

Vandoorne set the fastest time, a 1m14.242s, as he was joined by Rowland, Nato and Evans in the duels.

Hughes went marginally quicker in the second group with a 1m14.140s, followed by Vergne, da Costa and Wehrlein as the quartet were covered by just over a tenth.

Envision’s Robin Frijns missed out on progressing by 0.090s, where he was joined by reigning champion Jake Dennis (Andretti), Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) and Abt’s Nico Muller.

Sergio Sette Camara (ERT), McLaren’s Sam Bird on his return after recovering from a broken hand and the second Mahindra of Edoardo Mortara rounded out the standings.

Shanghai E-Prix qualifying result

   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Time km/h
1 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25

1'13.322

149.799
2 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.Dams 22

+0.038

1'13.360

149.721
3 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9

+0.037

1'13.359

149.723
4 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94

+0.302

1'13.624

149.185
5 United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5

+0.161

1'13.483

149.471
6 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13

+0.371

1'13.693

149.045
7 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17

+0.502

1'13.824

148.780
8 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2

+0.539

1'13.861

148.706
9 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4

+1.014

1'14.336

147.756
10 New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37

+0.994

1'14.316

147.795
11 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1

+1.137

1'14.459

147.512
12 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16

+1.045

1'14.367

147.694
13 Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21

+1.201

1'14.523

147.385
14 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7

+1.062

1'14.384

147.660
15 Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51

+1.208

1'14.530

147.371
16 Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11

+1.062

1'14.384

147.660
17 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3

+1.258

1'14.580

147.272
18 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33

+1.159

1'14.481

147.468
19 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8

+1.279

1'14.601

147.231
20 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18

+1.172

1'14.494

147.442
21 Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48

+1.684

1'15.006

146.436
22 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams 23

+1.198

1'14.520

147.391
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.