It’s time to set the grid for the second race of the weekend, Round 7 in Misano, after the whirlwind of emotions that was yesterday’s race and its aftermaths with the disqualification of race winner Da Costa and a number of other penalties.
Group A features both ABT drivers as well as Rowland, Gunther, Cassidy, Vergne, Nato, Frijns, Da Costa, Ticktum and De Vries.
After the first set of attempts, Gunther leads with a 1:18.451s, with Muller, Frijns and Rowland provisionally in the top 4, with the Envision driver running over the kerbs on his attempt.
Vergne is the next driver to set a benchmark, improving the Maserati driver’s previous best by 0.206s while also running wide at the final corner. De Vries, in spite of his earlier technical issues during FP3, at the halftime mark is in the top 4.
On the final flying lap many drivers found extra speed, while Da Costa saw his lap cancelled for track limits. Ultimately Cassidy came out on top of Group A with a 1:17.907s, with Frijns, Muller and Vergne through to the Duels as well.
Championship leader Oliver Rowland was the first of the not advancing drivers, only 0.044s off the Frenchmen’s time and not able to improve on his final flying lap as he ran wide at the Turn 8-9 chicane.
Group B sees Sette Camara setting a 1:18.090s as the provisional best, followed by Fenestraz, Vandoorne and Dennis. The ERT driver is however under investigation for speeding in the pit lane.
Former championship leader Pascal Wehrlein is the first driver of the group to set a lap in the 1:17s, but many other drivers are improving with a couple minutes on the clock to go. Hughes and Dennis both slot in between Wehrlein and Sette Camara, leaving yesterday’s pole sitter Mitch Evans provisionally out of the duels.
After the chequered flag Hughes smashes Wehrlein’s previous best, with his teammate Sam Bird advancing in P3 and DS’s Vandoorne the final driver through to the Duels.
Neither reigning champion and yesterday’s podium finisher Dennis will have a chance to secure a front row start, nor Evans, eight oh his group.
Muller and Frijns face off in the first Quarter Final of the day. The Dutch driver started with a 0.108s lead over the ABT driver, but the Swiss was able to close the gap and develop a gap of 0.230s in the second sector, which grew to 0.703s in the end due to Frijns running slightly wide.
Vergne vs Cassidy is on next, with the Frenchman ahead by 0.232s on the Jaguar driver, but it was a late upset as Cassidy is the one to advance by only 0.032s, using up all the kerb in the final sector. Ultimately the Kiwi’s lap was disallowed for track limits, with the two times FE champion on to the next round.
The third Duel of the day sees Bird and Wehrlein on track. The McLaren driver had a slight lead throughout the whole lap, but the German was able to recover and win the duel by 0.072s.
Hughes vs Vandoorne for the final Semi spot was a impressive display from the McLaren driver, who secured a 0.200s gap to the Belgian in the first sector, which doubled in the middle sector and rounded up to almost seven tenths at the end of the lap.
The first semi final of the day sees Muller and Vergne battling it out. In the first sector they were pretty levelled, but Vergne pulled out a 0.872s lead in the second sector as the Swiss driver suffered from a power cut, rounding off his advantage to over a second in the last corners
Hughes vs Wehrlein are on next. The Brit starts with a 0.080s advantage, but Wehrlein closed it up pretty soon. Hughes developed a 0.220s lead over the second sector, but ultimately made it through to the Final for the second round in a row by only 0.053s.
Who will get pole between Hughes and Vergne? The McLaren driver started out with a 0.200s advantage, but Vergne looks fast. In spite of the DS driver catching up in the middle sector, Hughes was able to pull it off in the final turns, as he extended his lead to 0.245s to secure his third ever pole position in Formula E.
