Jake Dennis Storms to London Pole with Vandoorne Alongside

Jake Dennis continued his impressive start to Saturday at the London E-Prix, by claiming pole position at his home event. Stoffel Vandoorne sealed a strong second place start for the first race, whereas all of his title rivals failed to make it to the duels.

Group A

Group A featured some of the most in-form drivers’ in the championship at the moment, with Vandoorne, Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy all featuring in the first group. Also in the first group was Sérgio Sette Câmara, Pascal Wehrlein, Sam Bird, Lucas Di Grassi, Maximilian Günther, Robin Frijns, Alexander Sims and Oliver Turvey.

After all the drivers’ first flying-laps, it was New York E-Prix winner Cassidy who led the way, with Sette Câmara, Vandoorne and Evans within the top-four. Grip was an evident issue at the ExCeL Centre especially at Turn One, as too were the bumps towards Turn Sixteen.

Times tumbled down into the low 1:14s, with Vandoorne setting the pace as the only driver in Group A to break into the 1:13s. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver secured top in Group A, with Camara, Cassidy and Di Grassi joining him into the Quarter-Finals.

However, during Group B it was announced that Di Grassi’s lap-time had been deleted for impeding, Günther was therefore promoted into fourth and into his first duel of the season. Di Grassi was furious, with the ROKIT Venturi Racing driver being seen slamming the garage wall in anger.

It meant championship contender Evans was a shock elimination from the group, after running deep at Turn One on his final lap.

Group B

With Evans already out, it meant Jean-Éric Vergne and Edoardo Mortara had a huge chance to capitalise. Joining the pair in Group B were António Félix Da Costa, Nyck de Vries, André Lotterer, Dennis who topped Free Practice Two, Sébastian Buemi, Oliver Rowland, Oliver Askew, Antonio Giovinazzi and Dan Ticktum.

The NIO 333 FE Team did an excellent job to repair Ticktum’s car in time, with their being initial uncertainty that his car would be ready in time for the session.

The first push laps saw Dennis continuing his strong-form at the London circuit, the Brit sat pretty in first on a 1:14.073, with De Vries and Askew close behind. Both Mortara and Vergne sat outside the top four after their first-runs.

Vandoorne, already into the duels, watched on intently, as both Mortara and Vergne failed to qualify for the duels. Dennis continued his fine form and topped Group B with a 1:13.846, with De Vries, Askew and Lotterer taking up the remaining top four spots.

Quarter-Finals

The first Quarter-Final saw Vandoorne against Lotterer, with the championship leader knowing how significant it would be if he were to proceed to the Semi-Finals.

Lotterer set an impressive lap-time first with a high 1:13.9s lap; however, it wasn’t enough to beat a ultra-determined Vandoorne, who sealed a place in the final-four with a brilliant 1:13.528.

Quarter-Final number two saw Askew against Sette Câmara, with both setting unbelievable times. Sette Câmara was the winner of the duel, setting a 1:13.330.

Cassidy then went up against De Vries, with the New York winner aiming for a spot in the Semi-Final once again. It wasn’t to be for the New Zealander, as he set a high 1:13 which was comfortably beaten by the reigning World Champion.

The final Quarter-Final saw Günther against Dennis, with the Free Practice Two topper setting a serious benchmark time for fight for pole. Dennis set a stunning 1:13.225, the fastest-time of the weekend at the time.

Semi-Finals

Vandoorne went against Sette Câmara in the first Semi-Final, with the Belgian driver knowing that he was already guaranteed to be starting at least six-places higher than his nearest title rival.

The championship leader excellently secured his place in the final, after setting a 1:13.131. Sette Câmara was almost over three-tenths off the Mercedes driver, after setting a 1:13.474.

Semi-Final two saw the incredibly fast Dennis against De Vries, who was targeting a Mercedes one-two. The Dutchman couldn’t do it though, and will have to settle for third place, after Dennis reclaimed the fastest-lap of the weekend with a 1:13.005.

Final

The final saw the championship leader, against the home hero, with both knowing how vital pole could be. Dennis had the full support of the British crowd, who cheered the Avalanche Andretti FE Team driver on.

Vandoorne crossed the line first but was beaten moments later by Dennis, who set a 1:13.161, which was met by applause from the entire crowd down the pit-straight.

Second place for Vandoorne means he is in a great position to increase his gap in the championship, with his title rivals having a mountain to climb in Race One.

London E-Prix Qualifying Full Results:

POS.	NO.	NAME.	NAT.	TEAM.	TIME.
1	27	Jake Dennis	GBR	Avalanche Andretti FE Team	1:13.161
2	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	BEL	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	1:13.298
3	17	Nyck de Vries	NED	Mercedes EQ-Formula E Team	1:13.314
4	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	BRZ	Dragon/Penske Autosport	1:13.474
5	28	Oliver Askew	USA	Avalanche Andretti FE Team	1:13.688
6	22	Maximilian Günther	GER	Nissan e.DAMS	1:13.780
7	37	Nick Cassidy	NZL	Envision Racing	1:13.852
8	36	André Lotterer	GER	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:13.917
9	48	Edoardo Mortara	CHE	ROKIT Venturi Racing	1:14.328
10	4	Robin Frijns	NED	Envision Racing	1:14.278
11	13	António Félix Da Costa	POR	DS Techeetah	1:14.336
12	10	Sam Bird	GBR	TCS Jaguar Racing	1:14.431
13	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	FRA	DS Techeetah	1:14.363
14	9	Mitch Evans	NZL	TCS Jaguar Racing	1:14.511
15	23	Sébastian Buemi	CHE	Nissan e.DAMS	1:14.383
16	29	Alexander Sims	GBR	Mahindra Racing	1:14.591
17	30	Oliver Rowland	GBR	Mahindra Racing	1:14.448
18	94	Pascal Wehrlein	GER	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:14.602
19	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Dragon/Penske Autosport	1:14.816
20	3	Oliver Turvey	GBR	NIO 333 FE Team	1:14.940
21	33	Dan Ticktum	GBR	NIO 333 FE Team	1:15.200
22	11	Lucas Di Grassi	BRZ	ROKIT Venturi Racing	–