Diriyah – De Vries takes pole at Mortara

In one breath. that is how Nyck de Vries (Mercedes) signed his first pole position of the season, the day after that won by his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

After dominating his qualifying group, Nyck de Vries performed flawlessly in the knockout phase, successively outclassing Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) and Lucas di Grassi (Venturi). The Dutchman then presented himself in the final where his teammate from the last city, Edoardo Mortara, was waiting for him.

In a face-to-face that promised to be close, the fight was there between the two men. Riding on his victory on Friday, Nyck de Vries confirmed his status as favorite by beating pole position to Edoardo Mortara by only 5 thousandths, 1'07"154 against 1'07"159 for the Swiss Venturi. Out in the semi-final, Robin Frijns completed the Top 3 ahead of Lucas di Grassi and André Lotterer (Porsche).

Now that was CLOSE!

Only 0.005s separated @nyckdevries and @edomortara in our final qualifying duel ahead of Round 2 🤯⚡️

🇸🇦 2022 #DiriyahEPrice | @MercedesEQFE @VenturiFE pic.twitter.com/MyOEsWCPjb

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 29, 2022

Present in the 2nd part of these qualifications, Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Techeetah), eliminated in the quarter-finals by the future pole-sitter, will start 6th this Saturday evening in Saudi Arabia just ahead of his teammate Antonio Félix da Costa who conceded more than 'a second to Lucas di Grassi during their face-to-face.

On pole and 2nd in the race on Friday, Stoffel Vandoorne had a more complicated qualifying session than expected. In difficulty, the Belgian from Mercedes was unable to escape from his group, finishing in a distant 12th place.

Among the newcomers, nothing is going well at the moment. Dan Ticktum (NIO 333) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Dragon Penske) could not do better than 18th and 20th. Also note the poor performance of Sébastien Buemi only 17th. This once again confirms Nissan e.Dams' difficulties for some time now.