Stoffel Vandoorne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23
Stoffel Vandoorne beat Antonio Felix da Costa to pole for the inaugural Sao Paulo ePrix.
The reigning champion delivered the first pole in ninety race drought for the Penske name in Formula E, beating out an in-form Da Costa in his powerful Porsche.
Group A qualifying was red-flagged early in the s as Sergio Sette Camara had a power issue and stopped on track. A large bump on one of the straights has challenged the drivers all weekend.
The session was positive for those who have struggled so far this season. Both Stoffel Vandoorne in his DS Penske and Edoardo Mortara in his Maserati managed to make it through to the duels, the latter for the first time this season and were joined by Nick Cassidy and Jake Hughes.
In Group B qualifying, the struggles for ABT continued as Robin Frijns stopped on pit out with an electrical failure, taking a significant time to restart his systems and get going again.
Despite showing more positive signs of single lap pace, Antonio Felix Da Costa was the only Porsche-powered car to make the duels, joined by both Jaguar cars and the Maserati of Maximillian Gunther.
Neither Brazillian driver had a good qualifying; Lucas DiGrassi failed to set a time in his Mahindra during group B qualifying and will start at the back of the grid for the race.
In the duels, Hughes failed to get his McLaren through the semi-finals for the first time this season, making a mistake through turn seven and giving the win to Vandoorne.
Both Jaguars also faced off in the quarter-finals, with Mitch Evans putting together one of the fastest of the weekend, beating out his teammate Sam Bird by three-tenths.
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6
Vandoorne continued to impress in his semi-final duel with Mortara, the Belgian getting more comfortable with the DS Penske package underneath him.
Da Costa inched through in his semi-final against Evans, making it all count in the final sector.
The final duel was incredibly close, less than a tenth, between the reigning champion and the Cape Town race winner. Vandoorne managed to come out on top and take pole position.
With the last eight pole sitters unable to convert the win in Formula E, Vandoorne will hope to break that trend in the race.
Lights out for the Sao Paulo ePrix is at 2 pm local time.
Keyword: Vandoorne on pole for São Paulo ePrix