Nato and Bird have had extensive work done on their challengers, with the McLaren driver suffering from a power cut in the final stages of FP2, but they both will attempt to qualify on Pole for the FE São Paulo E-Prix.
Group stages
Group A saw out on track Beckmann, Bird, Di Grassi, Da Costa, Buemi, De Vries Rowland Vergne Dennis Cassidy and Hughes.
Bird sets the best early lap time in 1:12.394s and with five minutes to go he would advance to the Duels alongside Beckmann, Vergne, Di Grassi, who is the only Brazilian driver left on the Fomrula E grid.
Dennis keeps up with the good form shown in FP signing the first lap in the 1:11s. Da Costa moves up to Pw as well, but he is replaced shortly after by Vergne and Nissan’s Rowland.
Beckmann makes slight contact with the wall, while Vergne runs long at Turn 10.
Ultimately, Dennis is able to hold on to the top spot, advancing with Da Costa, Rowland and Vergne. Cassidy has definitely improved since his earlier car issues but it’s still not enough to make the cut. He is P6 0.103s off the Frenchman’s time.
Rowland mentions he has unfortunately bent quite severely his steering system.
No time to catch a breath as it’s already Group B’s moment to shine.
The first lap time of this session is set by Zane Maloney in 1:13.338s.
The first red flag is caused by Mitch Evans stopping on track again. It’s definitely not the end of qualifying moment the Kiwi 2024 championship contender was hoping for, as he can’t get his Jaguar restarted due to a brake failure message.
Barnard, Maloney, Frijns and Nato would be through at the moment with 7:16 minutes left on the clock.
The Envision driver is the first to improve at the restart signing a 1:12.112s, a time quickly improved by Wehrlein and lowered to 1:11.717s.
With three minutes left Mortara Nato and Ticktum would be advancing, with Frijns the first cut.
Ticktum is only 0.001s off the knockout zone as the final set of attempts begin.
Ultimately Wehrlein ends the session on top, with Mortara, Günther and Nato all advancing. Vandoorne is in P6, 0.074s off the Nissan driver’s effort.
Duels
Surprisingly, no Jaguar, Maserati or McLaren driver are moving to the duels. On the other hand, Porsche, Nissan and DS Penske both will present their complete lineups.
The first duel of the 2024-2025 season sees Rowland against Da Costa. They are neck to neck in the first sector with the German ahead. However, the Nissan driver recovered in the second sector up to 0.161s. The Porsche closed a bit the gap, but it wasn’t enough to make it.
Vergne and Dennis are on next, with three championships to their name. JEV was leading in the early stages, with Dennis upsetting in the second half and building up in the last corners a 0.529s advance to head to the Semi Finals.
Günther is duelling with Mortara. The Mahindra driver set a 0.150s lead in the early moments, but Gunther managed to upset the round, developing a 0.350s lead.
The final quarter final of the day sees Nato facing Wehrlein. The Nissan driver started in the lead, but ultimately the reigning champion signed the second fastest lap of the segment to advance.
Semi Finals and Pole
Rowland and Dennis compete for a Final FE Pole spot. The Nissan driver began with two tenths of advantage over the 2023-2024 champion, but he was able to close the gap. It’s incredibly tight as ultimately it’s Rowland to move on with only 0.001s on Dennis.
Günther and Wehrlein are in the second semi final. The champion started comfortably in the lead, and was able to build a 0.492s gap on the Ds Penske driver.
Wehrlein began his lap with a small advantage, while Rowland developed a significant 0.160s gap over the reigning champion. Ultimately it’s the German who ends up taking the three Brazilian points with a 0.099s margin.
