Formula E Rome qualifying: World Championship favorites in front – Wehrlein in the back

Customer teams are stirring up Formula E

The two pilots from the customer teams Andretti (Porsche) and Envision (Jaguar) continue to stir up Formula E and put their engine suppliers in the shade – and that at well over 30 degrees (track: 50 degrees) in heat-stricken Rome.

For Dennis it was the second pole position of the year and the fifth of his Formula E career. Curiously, championship leader Cassidy is starting from the front row for the first time this season. The New Zealander finished second in Saturday’s race in Rome, taking his seventh podium finish.

In the thrilling fight for the title, Mitch Evans (Jaguar) is now also keenly involved in the penultimate race weekend of the 2023 season. The New Zealander claimed his fourth Formula E victory in Rome on Saturday and can count on good chances again. Evans secured fourth place on the grid behind surprise man Norman Nato (Nissan). “We still have to find some pace if we want to win again today,” said the Jaguar ace cautiously.

For Evans: Bird takes his foot off the gas

Evans met his teammate Sam Bird (5th place on the grid) in the quarter-finals – and unsurprisingly prevailed. The Brit, who had a serious accident in the pile-up on Saturday and is driving a new chassis today, took his foot off the accelerator in the last sector after having been even faster than Evans in the first section. Evans eventually advanced to the semifinals by a half-second. On Saturday, Jaguar managed the rare feat of a double pole, for the second time after New York 2021. In the duel of the Jaguar engines, Evans then failed in the semifinals against Cassidy.

Günther continues excellent qualifying form

Maximilian Günther (Maserati) once again delivered in qualifying at the home round of Formula E newcomer Maserati and entered the duel phase for the sixth time in a row. In the quarter-finals against Dennis, work ended prematurely, but with sixth place on the grid, the man from the Allgäu once again secured a promising starting position. In Saturday’s race, Günther moved from eighth to third place and gave the Italian car manufacturer its third podium result in its debut season.

Completing the top 10 on the grid are Sebastien Buemi (Envision-Jaguar), Edoardo Mortara (Maserati) and Antonio Felix da Costa in eighth, ninth and tenth.

Porsche boss after qualifying: “Very disappointing”

Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) has to catch up today in order not to fall behind in the fight for the world championship. In qualifying group B, the Porsche works driver finished eighth and was more than six tenths of a second behind leader Dennis. Means: Wehrlein will start the race from 15th place on the grid, while his rivals for the title have a much better starting position.

In Saturday’s race, Wehrlein qualified tenth on the grid and crossed the finish line in seventh place. The former DTM champion and Formula 1 driver subsequently received a 5-second time penalty (too fast under red) and fell back to ninth place. Wehrlein has dropped from third to fourth place in the Formula E table.

Porsche overall project manager Florian Modlinger: “Very disappointing. Pascal got off to a good start on his first run, but lost four tenths in the last sector. The second run wasn’t on the same level overall, but he improved in sector 3. He got So no lap together. It’s going to be a tough day. We have to go full attack and take more risks than we would like.”

For the other German starters Rene Rast (McLaren) and Andre Lotterer (Andretti), qualifying also didn’t go according to plan. In the ‘German’ group B with all four drivers, only Günther managed to get into the duel phase. Rast had to settle for 7th place in the group (13th on the grid), Lotterer starts from P17 in ninth place in the group.