First pole of the year for Vandoorne

Back in qualifying after the Diriyah episode, Mercedes was not idle. Represented in the Super Pole by the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, the German team won its second pole position of the season after that of Nyck de Vries in Saudi Arabia.

Stronger than his teammate, eliminated even before the Super Pole, Stoffel Vandoorne recorded the best time of the session. The Mercedes driver completed the lap of the Rome street circuit in 1'38"484.

At the finish, the Belgian was respectively ahead of André Lotterer (Porsche) and Oliver Rowland (Nissan e.Dams) of 167 and 405 thousandths.

One time leader, Lucas di Grassi (Audi) finished 4th, more than 4 tenths from the lead. Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Techeetah) and Maximilian Günther (BMW) followed.

Robin Frijns (Virgin), Nick de Vries (Mercedes), Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) and Sébastien Buemi (Nissan e.Dams) completed the Top 10.

Norman Nato (Venturi), the other French driver on the grid, will start from the 7th row this Saturday. Le Cannais set the 14th time just behind Alex Lynn (Mahindra).

In difficulty at the start of the season, the reigning champion António Félix Da Costa (DS Techeetah) is only 18th on the starting grid for this first race of the weekend in the streets of the Italian capital.

Victim of a big accident during FP1, Oliver Turvey (NIO) will start from the back of the grid.

See you at 16:00 p.m. (French time) for the first Rome e-Prix.