It’s Sacha Fenestraz coming victorious after qualifying for Monaco E-Prix, ahead of their customer team driver Jake Hughes.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bagnall
The time has finally come – the qualifying for the Monaco E-Prix is on its way! Who will be the one starting from P1? Will it be the Jaguars, the Maseratis, or will someone else join the party? So far it seems that the main protagonists of this season – Wehrlein and Cassidy have been struggling, as both the Porsche-powered cars and the Kiwi suffered some issues with their powertrains. We expect the quali to be good fun.
The session started with Group A, which consisted of: Wehrlein, Vergne, Evans, Bird, Rast, Vandoorne, Lotterer, Nato, Ticktum, Fenestraz and Frijns. The clock began to tick and all of the drivers made their way onto the track. The first driver to set a lap time was Bird, with the time of 1:31.604s. Evans is the first driver to drop the time to 1:30, 1:30.956s to be exact. Vergne, Vandoorne and Fenestraz join the Top 4 at that point of the session, with six minutes to go. Halfway through this first leg of the session, we’ve got an information that both DS Penske cars have been under investigation for technical infringement. Trouble of Vergne and Vandoorne ahead? Three minutes to go, and it’s been Evans, Vergne, Lotterer and Vandoorne so far advancing into the duels. But we know its all down to the last second in Formula E, so let’s see!
Its checkered flag and the four that advances to the duels were: Nato, Fenestraz, Ticktum and Evans! Remarkable work done by the Nissan squad, both of their drivers into the duels!
Group B is on their way and this time, we’ve got Cassidy, Dennis, Da Costa, Buemi, Hughes, Gunther, Di Grassi, Sette Camara, Rowland, Mortara and Müller. Before the drivers made it on track we’ve got a note from the FIA saying that the lap times were deleted for both DS Penske cars due to a technical infringement. The first driver to set a lap time was Hughes, with the time of 1:31.014s, but was fast overtaken by Gunther and Cassidy. With 6 minutes left on the clock, most of the drivers returned to the pits. A Costa reported front-end damage, maybe he’s clipped a wall somewhere on track? With 3 minutes to go most of the drivers returned on track for the last push. One minute to go and the Top 4 were Gunther, Hughes, Sette Camara and Mortara. Checkered flag, and the four drivers that got into the duels were: Gunther, Hughes, Mortara and Sette Camara! Gunther impeded Cassidy on his final push, and the Kiwi goes only 5th fastest! Will there be a penalty for the Maserati? This can have a huge impact on the final results today.
It’s time for the duels! Just before the start we’ve got a note from the FIA that the times of Sette Camara have been deleted for technical infringement. It seems like it was only concerning one set of his tyres, so he’s still in the duels.
Duels – Quarterfinals
Ticktum vs Fenestraz
Winner: Fenestraz
Evans vs Nato
Winner: Nato
Mortara vs Hughes
Winner: Hughes
Sette Camara vs Gunther
Winner: Sette Camara
Duels – Semifinals
Nato vs Fenestraz
Winner: Fenestraz
Just ahead of the duel, Sette Camara’s time has been canceled, which means Gunther will go ahead agains Hughes. Big luck once again for the Maserati team.
Gunther vs Hughes
Winner: Hughes
Duels – Finals
Hughes vs Fenestraz
Winner: Fenestraz
And it’s a Nissan front-lock up, with Fenestraz ahead of Hughes! Remarkable qualifying by the Formula E rookies! Fenestraz also scored the fastest overall lap of the weekend.
It seems like it’s going to be a fascinating race this afternoon! The final for the Monaco E-Prix this Saturday will take place at 3pm CET. Tune in in front of the TV and at Pitdebrief to find the summary of the whole race later today! And remember: enjoy the race, wherever you are ✨
