Diriyah E-Prix: Vergne edges Evans to pole for opening race

The DS Penske driver put himself 0.012s up on Evans after the first sector, but found himself fractionally behind the Jaguar ace after coming through the second timing zone.

A final sector time just over a tenth up allowed Vergne to claim top spot with a 1m12.062s and by a margin of only 0.072s, the Frenchman’s first Formula E pole since Jakarta in 2022.

Evans had set the fastest lap in the entirety of qualifying – a 1m11.992s as he became the only driver to go below the 1m12s barrier – to progress into the final at the expense of reigning champion Jake Dennis.

The Andretti driver had dropped two tenths back by the second sector but reduced the gap to only 0.087s at the line.

ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara proved to be the surprise of qualifying, making it as far as the semi-final stage but ultimately losing out in his battle against Vergne by nearly half a second.

Vergne had set the fastest time in the quarter-final stage of the duels, posting a 1m12.164s that was more than three tenths clear of Andretti driver Norman Nato, who had headed FP2 earlier in the day.

A quicker time in each of the three sectors allowed Sette Camara to progress to the semi-finals at the expense of Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther, while the closest quarter-final margin was only 0.083s, as Dennis just got the better of Porsche driver and Mexico City E-Prix winner Pascal Wehrlein.

A 1m12.313s was enough for Evans to comfortably beat Jaguar team-mate Nick Cassidy in their quarter-final duel, the latter suffering a scruffy lap and finishing more than half a second behind his fellow Kiwi.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Jake Dennis, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Cassidy had headed the opening qualifying group with a 1m12.619s from Dennis, Wehrlein and Evans as the quartet were covered by less than four tenths.

Jake Hughes missed out on the chance of progressing to the duels by two tenths after running wide at T18 on his final effort when set to improve, as the McLaren driver headed Robin Frijns (Envision) and Oliver Rowland (Nissan).

Abt Cupra drivers Nico Muller and Lucas di Grassi, as well as Mahindra pairing Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries, brought up the rear of the group.

Just 0.077s covered the top four drivers in the second qualifying group, with Vergne’s 1m12.856s proving quickest from Sette Camara, Guenther and Nato.

Like his McLaren team-mate, Sam Bird was the first driver to miss out on a duel spot as he finished fifth ahead of the second DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne and Sebastien Buemi, ensuring both Envision drivers missed out on the duels.

Sacha Fenestraz took eighth for Nissan while for the second race in a row Porsche driver Antonio Felix da Costa failed to progress from his group and will be demoted three places on the grid for his collision with Muller in Mexico.

Dan Ticktum (ERT) and Jehan Daruvala (Maserati MSG) completed the order, the latter heading to the pits on his final run.

Diriyah E-Prix - Qualifying results: