Nick Cassidy claimed an incredible pole position for the London E-Prix season finale, trimming the gap to Formula E championship leader Pascal Wehrlein to just four points.
The Jaguar driver put in a sensational qualifying performance as a brake-by-wire issue meant he was unable to conduct any track running this morning at the London ExCeL ahead of the final race of the season.
Despite the enormous pressure, Cassidy was able to claim his first pole of the season, and with it, three vital points in his hunt for a maiden Formula E title after beating Maximilian Guenther by 0.169s with the quickest lap of the session – a 1m09.871s.
Cassidy booked a spot in the final by beating championship leader and Saturday’s London E-Prix winner Pascal Wehrlein by a tenth and a half with the Porsche driver set to start fourth alongside Mitch Evans.
The second Jaguar driver trails Wehrlein by three points in the standings, and having lost nearly three tenths to Guenther in the opening sector of their semi-final duel, he fell 0.046s short by the line, meaning the Kiwi will start third on the grid.
It means just four points now cover the top three drivers in the standings, all of whom will start in the top four for this afternoon’s scheduled 34-lap race, setting up a winner-takes-all scenario.
Evans posted the fastest lap from the entirety of qualifying in the quarter-finals with a 1m10.200s, leaving him 0.234s faster than Stoffel Vandoorne, while a slower opening sector for the second DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne cost him by 0.074s in his battle with Guenther.
Despite bouncing clumsily over the kerbs at the Turn 10/11 chicane, Cassidy still managed to beat Robin Frijns by just over a tenth.
The Envision driver was given the all-clear to race in Sunday’s event after injuring his hand in Saturday’s race, which required a trip to hospital and medical exam.
Wehrlein was never headed in his quarter-final battle with Sam Bird, beating the McLaren driver by 0.382s over the course of the lap.
Unlike on Saturday, Cassidy’s penultimate lap was more than good enough to progress from the opening qualifying group as he described his 1m10.323s as one of his best Formula E performances ever having lost all track running in FP3.
Cassidy’s fastest lap, the quickest from either qualifying group, left him 0.145s clear of Wehrlein, with Bird and Frijns also progressing as Nissan’s Oliver Rowland was the first driver to miss the cut by 0.026s.
The Briton was followed by Jehan Daruvala (Maserati MSG), ERT’s Dan Ticktum and the second McLaren of Jake Hughes.
Sebastian Buemi (Envision) was left ninth having taken only his second podium of the season in Saturday’s race, as Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz and reigning champion Jake Dennis completed the group.
In qualifying group two, crucially the second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa failed to progress by 0.005s meaning the Portuguese driver’s quest to aid team-mate Wehrlein will be trickier from 10th on the grid.
Guenther topped the group with a 1m10.395s on his final run, as Evans, Vandoorne and Vergne were covered by less than two-tenths.
Also failing to progress along with da Costa was Andretti’s Norman Nato, the two Abts of Lucas di Grassi and Nico Muller, as well as Sergio Sette Camara (ERT).
The two Mahindras of Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries completed the order despite a double points finish in Saturday’s race for the Indian manufacturer.
