Group A came first out on track, featuring both Porsche, Maserati, Ds, Nissan drivers as well as Frijns, Di Grassi and Sette Camara. The first set of attempts sees Vergne lead once again with a 1:18.513s, with Vandoorne, Fenestraz and Gunther provisionally making the cut to the Duels as well. The Frenchman shaves off some hundreds from his previous best effort, putting in 1:18.070s
Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein is on the outside looking in, less than 0.050s off the Maserati driver’s time. With five minutes to go in the session, the German has found his way into the top 4, alongside Frijns and Gunther, but none of them is able to match Vergne’s pace.
In the final heated moments of the session, Rowland held his breath as after getting into the provisional Duels with a previous lap, his Nissan car locked up at the finishing line. Ultimately, no other driver improved on his final flying lap, allowing the Brit to advance to the next round.
To the Duels: Vergne, Wehrlein, Rowland, Gunther
Group B sees Cassidy out first on track after his end of FP2 crash, which luckily hadn’t caused too much damage. Reigning champion Jake Dennis’s Misano struggles continue, as he is visibly struggling with lockup in many different track sectors.
Hughes with a 1:18.161s takes the provisional top spot, followed by Cassidy, Muller and Evans. A lengthy pit break saw no cars on track, with drivers exiting with four minutes to go in the session.
Buemi is the first driver to improve, but it’s a fast changing leaderboard as Evans and Cassidy cycle at the lead as well. Ultimately Hughes takes back his P1 with a 1:17.864s. On the other hand, it’s a terrible moment for Andretti, with Dennis and Nato in P10 and P11 respectively unable to set a lap time not deleted by track limits.
The final flying laps proved important for the Duels, as Cassidy is bumped out by Bird, which allows the papaya team to get two drivers through. Ticktum had a moment as almost spun after going over a kerb on his latest attempt.
The Kiwi driver will not advance due to the tiniest margin of the day so far: 0.005s to the Swiss driver’s
To the Duels: Hughes, Evans, Bird, Muller
Rowland and Wehrlein face off in the first quarter final of the day. The Nissan driver started with a 0.170s of advantage on the championship leader, but the German driver was able to close the gap to the Brit, who also had a moment coming out of Turn 7, and win the Duel.
In the second one it’s Vergne vs Gunther. JEV started with a hearty 0.660s gap from the first sector only, building on that gap for the whole lap and ultimately securing the move to the Semi Final with a solid 1.2s over the Maserati driver.
Bird and Evans are on next, with the Jaguar driver starting strong. The Kiw had a 0.170s in the first sector, but the Sao Paulo E-Prix winner was able to close up in the second. It all came down to the final one, where ultimately Evans was fastest, moving to the next round.
Photo credits: Jaguar TCS Racing
The last Quarter Final of the day sees Hughes and Muller facing each other. It was pretty close at first, with Hughes initially ahead by 0.012s but Muller building a 0.040s lead. Hughes went on however to sign off the fastest time of the weekend so far in 1:16.970s, earning himself a semi final spot.
In the first semi final, Vergne had started his lap with a consistent advantage on Wehrlein, but the German managed to close it up and be the benchmark for the second sector. It was another close round, with the two times Formula E champion prevailing in the end.
Evans started his Semi Final attempt in the lead by 0.080s, but Hughes got closer in the first sector developing a 0.120s advantage. However Hughes came into Turn 11 with too much speed and ran wide over a kerb, allowing Evans to be the one to fight for pole.
Who will get pole position? Evans is first out on track, followed by Vergne. The DS Penske driver started ahead of the Kiwi driver by only 0.011s, but lost in the following sector and was unable to make up the 0.160s of distance to Evans.
Italy always has its perks for him as the Jaguar driver takes the first ever Misano pole position after his four previous successes in Rome.
Tune in in three hours to see if he will be able to convert the top starting spot into a win!
