Formula E

Formula E in Berlin: Mitch Evans takes pole position in rainy qualifying without duels

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

Craig Evans / Spacesuit Media

Mitch Evans starts Saturday's Formula E race in Berlin from pole position. In a rainy qualifying session without duels, he won his Group A and also set the fastest lap time across both qualifying groups. Group B was won by Robin Frijns - the Dutchman finished second on the grid, with championship leader Oliver Rowland third and Max Günther, the best German, fifth. World champion Pascal Wehrlein will start his home race in ninth place.

Group A: Evans flies

After the cancellation of the second free practice session on Saturday morning, qualifying also began with a considerable delay. Due to several postponements, it only started at 12:00 (instead of 11:20). Even at this point, the race organisers announced that there would be no duel phase and therefore no three bonus points for pole position. The starting grid would therefore be determined on the basis of the times in the group phase, combined from the two groups.

There was still a lot of water on the track. Nevertheless, the drivers were in a hurry to adapt to the difficult conditions as quickly as possible. As usual, they had a total of twelve minutes. Mitch Evans set the first impressive fastest time after a third of the session, a good 1.5 seconds ahead of anyone else. The Jaguar driver set one pink sector time after another and also dominated the competition in the second third.

Even in the final minutes, nobody came close to Evans' times, who won the group stage in commanding style. Oliver Rowland finished second, almost a second behind. They were followed by Max Günther, Antonio Felix da Costa and Dan Ticktum. The second half of the group was completed by Edo Mortara, Nico Müller, Sam Bird, Jake Dennis, Zane Maloney and Nissan stand-in Sergio Sette Camara.

Group B: Frijns comes out on top

For Group B, it was now a long-distance duel with Evans for pole position. However, the lap times were still a good four seconds slower at the start of the session. Towards the halfway point, Pascal Wehrlein was the fastest, just ahead of Robin Frijns, who once again showed his talent on a wet track. These two drivers continued to battle for the lead in the remaining minutes. One minute before the end, however, both were still around half a second behind Evans.

However, the times got even better: Frijns came within a tenth of a second of the fastest time in Group A, but didn't quite make it. As a result, Evans won qualifying and will start from pole position on Saturday in Berlin - but without the three bonus points! Jake Hughes finished second in Group B shortly before the end. Wehrlein and Jean-Eric Vergne lined up behind him.

The remaining positions were taken by Taylor Barnard, Stoffel Vandoorne, Felipe Drugovich, Lucas di Grassi, Nick Cassidy, David Beckmann and Sebastien Buemi, whose car was not ready in time for qualifying after an MGU change. Saturday's race in Berlin-Tempelhof starts at 4 pm CEST - to be followed in the live ticker at e-Formula.news.

Results, lap times & starting grid

Championship standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)

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