Vergne Leads all-Techeetah Front Row for Opening Race of Berlin E-Prix Weekend

Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix da Costa have locked out the front row of the grid for DS Techeetah for the opening race of the Berlin E-Prix, while ABB FIA Formula E World Championship leader Nyck de Vries will start only nineteenth.

Vergne took top spot after running last in the Superpole session at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit having been fastest in the initial phase of Qualifying, with his lap of 1:06.227 enough to beat team-mate Félix da Costa by 0.073 seconds.

Defending champion Félix da Costa was the only driver from Group 1 to make it through to Superpole, with Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team’s de Vries ending all the way down on the tenth row of the grid, while second placed Robin Frijns of Envision Virgin Racing was even further back after a mistake left him twenty-third.

Lucas di Grassi will line-up third on the grid for an Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team embarking on their final race weekend in Formula E, with the Brazilian looking to end his seven-year stint with the team on a high.

He will be joined on the second row by Swiss racer Edoardo Mortara from the ROKiT Venturi Racing team, while his team-mate Norman Nato was an impressive fifth ahead of Nissan e.dams’ Sébastien Buemi, who is looking to end an under par year with strong results.

Just missing out on superpole was Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans, with the New Zealander ending just ahead of BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Jake Dennis, with the Briton on course to make it into the top six only to miss out by a narrow margin.

Dennis’ team-mate Maximilian Günther was tenth behind Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team’s Pascal Wehrlein, while the second Jaguar of Sam Bird was twelfth just behind Nissan’s Oliver Rowland.

René Rast will start thirteenth for Audi ahead of Envision Virgin Racing’s Nick Cassidy, while the second Porsche of André Lotterer was fifteenth ahead of Mahindra Racing’s Alexander Sims and NIO 333 FE Team’s Tom Blomqvist.

Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Sérgio Sette Câmara was down in eighteenth ahead of championship leader de Vries, who struggled in group 1, while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne ended down in twenty-second in a difficult session for Mercedes.

In between de Vries and Vandoorne were British racers Oliver Turvey and Alex Lynn of NIO and Mahindra respectively, with the field being rounded out by Virgin’s Frijns and Dragon’s Joel Eriksson. 

Less than a second covered the first twenty-three drivers in the first stage, but Techeetah had the advantage in superpole.  Who will come out on top in race one, and who will still be in championship contention come the end of the day?

Berlin E-Prix Race 1 Qualifying Group Stage

Berlin E-Prix Race 1 Superpole