Mitch Evans (NZL), Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 5
Mitch Evans has taken pole the Monaco E-Prix for Jaguar, setting a 1:29.839, more than two tenths faster than Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein who the Kiwi was up against the final duel.
Evans was fastest all through the session, setting the fastest lap of qualifying group 2, with Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries, Wehrlein’s Porsche teammate Andre Lotterer, and Robins Frijns for Envision.
He then knocked out Venturi’s Lucas di Grassi in the fourth quarter final, setting up until that point the fastest lap of the session, a 1:30.053. Di Grassi had gone through in the first qualifying group, the slowest of the four, with Stoffel Vandoorne for Mercedes, Wehrlein, and DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne faster than the Brazilian.
Evans then beat Vergne by over a tenth in the semis, again setting a new session fastest lap, a 1:30.001.
Then came the final against Wehrlein, but the German had no answer for Evans’ rapid pace, with the Kiwi the only driver all weekend to get into the 1:29s.
Wehrlein then will start alongside the Kiwi. Behind them, Vergne and Vandoorne will share the second row, with Di Grassi and Lotter on row three. Frijns and de Vries, the two slowest in ther duels, will start seventh and eighth, with Oliver Rowland, who just missed out on getting through to the duels in ninth.
Sam bird qualified 10th but received a three-place grid penalty for his collision with Envision’s Nick Cassidy at the previous race in Rome. This promotes Antonio Felix da Costa, last year’s Monaco E-Prix polesitter and winner, to 10th. Maximilian Gunther looked impressive in the group stages for Nissan but couldn’t get put together a lap to get him through to the duels, so will start 11th.
Askew looked set to go through to the duels, in the top four in his group until the last few minutes, but went straight on at St Devote so couldn’t complete his final lap. That means the Andretti driver will start 12th. Bird will behind him in 13th after his penalty, with Dan Ticktum an impressive 14th for Nio 333.
Like his Andretti teammate Jake Dennis had similar issues on his final qualifying lap and could only manage 15th, after getting through to both duel stages for the Rome double-header the previous time out.
Venturi’s Edo Mortara will start 16th in what will likely be a blow to his championship chances, with Alexander Sims 17th for Mahindra. Nick Cassidy will start 18th for Envision after come acropper on his final qualifying lap, with Antonio Giovinazzi the fastest of the Dragons in 19th.
His teammate Sergio Sette Camara was only a touch slower though in 20th, meaning the Dragons share the penultimate row of the grid.
Oliver Turvey will start 21st for Nio 333, while Nissan’s Sebastien Buemi was 22nd and last in qualifying, meaning he occupies the final grid slot with it all to do in the race, which starts 2pm UK time.
Keyword: Evans grabs pole in dominant fashion for Monaco E-Prix