Diriyah – Qualifying 2: First pole for Hughes and McLaren

Group A: Hughes dominates, Vandoorne finally passes!

The day after the first E-Prix on the Diriyah circuit, the drivers are now familiar with the track and this is reflected in the lap times. In a very tough Group A, where we found the championship leader Jake Dennis (Andretti) and the reigning world champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS-Penske), the gaps were tiny for qualification to the final phase.

Always there, Jake Hughes (McLaren) dominated the session with a time of 1'09″361, ahead of the poleman from the day before Sébastien Buemi (Envision). For the first time this season, Stoffel Vandoorne passed the cut and qualified for the final phase, with the 3rd fastest time. Jake Dennis also qualified narrowly ahead of Sam Bird (Jaguar), while the first 9 drivers finished within the same half-second! In difficulty with his Nissan like Friday, Norman Nato only achieved the 10th time in his group.

Group B: Evans confirms, a Maserati in the top 4

Like Group A, Group B was also very close with the 11 drivers in less than 7 tenths. Mitch Evans, already the fastest during FP3, once again set the best time of the session in 1'09″401. The Jaguar driver confirms the good form of the British single-seaters in Diriyah. The vice-world champion beat René Rast, who places the 2nd McLaren in the knockout phase. The winner of Race 1, Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche), also qualified in the top 4 just like the Maserati of Edoardo Mortara. The Trident brand is placing one of its cars in the final phase for the first time.

Disappointment on the other hand for the two French people in this Group B. Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan) failed in 6th place in his group, which remains his best qualification of the season (12th on the grid), while Jean-Éric Vergne ( DS-Penske) was only able to set the 8th fastest time. The double champion of the discipline will start from 16th place for the E-Prix.

Duels: Hughes, first pole in FE!

Jake Hughes continues to impress. The rookie is a man in a hurry: always on the right track, the Briton took his first pole position in Formula E, on only his 3rd participation! The 28-year-old also delivered McLaren's first pole position in the electric championship. A nice revenge after failing in the final on Friday, for the first qualifying session. Jake Hughes successively beat Jake Dennis in the quarter-final, then Sébastien Buemi in the semi-final and finally Mitch Evans in the final.

🥉 Qualified in third in Mexico
🥈 Qualified in second yesterday in Diriyah
🥇 Qualifies ON POLE today for the #DiriyahEPrice@JakeHughesRace lands his and @McLarenFE's first Pole in Formula E! pic.twitter.com/vbtHg4X59P

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 28, 2023

McLaren signs the best overall result in these qualifications since René Rast will start from 3rd position, alongside Sébastien Buemi on the 2nd row. Defending champion Stoffel Vandoorne will start from 8th place. Start of the Diriyah 2 E-Prix at 18 p.m. this Saturday evening.

The final painting:

Quarter-finals:

Stoffel Vandoorne vs. Sébastien Buemi

Jake Hughes vs. Jake Dennis

Pascal Wehrlein vs. Rene Rast

Mitch Evans vs. Edward Mortara

Semi-finals:

Sébastien Buemi vs. Jake Hughes

René Rast vs. Mitch Evans

Final:

Jake Hughes vs. Mitch Evans

The starting grid for the Diriyah 2 E-Prix

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