It seems the customer team of Jaguar has an upper hand in Berlin, after Buemi puts it on pole over Bird and Vandoorne.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bloxam
Returning for the first of two races at Berlin, the Formula-E circus is bound to provide more exciting racing. Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein will look to improve on his poor form following his dream start to the season. Approaching the half-way point of the season and the top 5 in the championship being split by 28 points, it makes qualifying in a good position much more important.
As the green flag was waved, group A took to the track with all 11 drivers looking to qualify for the duels. Both Envision Racing cars of Sebastian Buemi and Nick Cassidy were in the top 3, split by reigning world champion Stoffel Vandoorne with Mortara rounding off the top 4 0.268s behind Buemi
As the teams got the final runs in, reigning world champion Vandoorne took top spot with a 1.05.978.
Envision Racing will look back at the group stages with a smile after both Buemi and Cassidy qualified for the duels in 2nd and 3rd. Meanwhile, Sergio Sette Camara, 0.226s off Vandoorne, took the 4th and final place for the duels. The surprise of the sessions would be Mitch Evans’ narrow miss of the duels, 0.011s away from Sette Camara. Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein was over half a second off the pace.
Group B headed out shortly after and at the half-way point of the session, Sam Bird’s Jaguar topped the timing sheets with a 1.06.018, 0.037s ahead of Gunther in P2 and 0.127s ahead of Dan Ticktum. Jake Dennis, hoping to improve on his recent poor qualifying form, provisionally sat in P4, 0.153s adrift from Bird.
The Group B drivers set out on their final runs and DS Penske driver Jean Eric-Vergne finished P5, narrowly missing out on the duels after a lock up into turn 1 ruined his chances. Sam Bird does Jaguar proud, topping the duels with a 1.05.975 and the star of free practice in Berlin, Max Gunther comes P2. The second NIO 333 racing driver Dan Ticktum sneaks into P3, while Andretti will be relieved that Jake Dennis has put the car through to the duels in P4, 0.196s adrift from Sam Bird.
The first of the four duels see’s Envision Racing drivers Nick Cassidy and Sebastian Buemi go head-to-head where 0.078s was enough for the Swiss driver to knock his team-mate out
Sette Camara vs Vandoorne was the second duel of the day where 90% of fans predicted a Vandoorne win, which they did successfully as Vandoorne’s DS Penske was 0.368s quicker than the NIO 333 Racing car.
The other NIO 333 Racing car of Ticktum faced off Max Gunther in the Maserati where an agonisingly tight battle saw the gap between the two drivers down to just 0.001s. A lock up at turn 9 for Gunther ultimately sealed his fate as Ticktum was quicker by 0.228s and progresses into the semi-finals.
Another close battle between championship rivals Jake Dennis and Sam Bird saw the Jaguar of Sam Bird 0.061s ahead of his fellow Brit in the Avalanche Andretti car.
The first of the two semi-finals feature Sebastian Buemi vs reigning champion Vandoorne. Surprisingly enough Buemi executed the better lap, beating Vandoorne by 0.110s and securing a record breaking 23rd front row start for the race, whilst Vandoorne starts 3rd.
The battle of the Brits was ultimately won by Sam bird who beat Dan Ticktum by 0.135s securing Ticktum a P4 start for the race.
Buemi or Bird, who will take pole, The Envision Racing car goes head-to-head with a strong Maserati car for pole position and three points for the championship. Bird was released before Swiss driver Buemi and the gap between the drivers kept growing in favour of Buemi. Initially the 0,052s gap grew to 0,187s and as Bird crossed the line he was 0,161s behind the Envision Racing driver. Buemi – who initially thought the lap wasn’t the best – crossed the line 0,137s quicker than Sam Bird’s Maserati and took pole position and three extra points.
The top 10 for the race – P1 Buemi, P2 Bird, P3 Vandoorne, P4 Ticktum, P5 Jake Dennis, P6 Nick Cassidy, P7 Sette Camara, P8 Gunther, P9 Eric-Vergne and P10 Evans.
