Formula E

Formula E in Berlin: Pascal Wehrlein & Porsche take pole position in Sunday's home race!

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

Craig Evans / Spacesuit Media

Pascal Wehrlein has snatched pole position in his home Formula E race in Berlin! With a convincing victory in the qualifying final against Dan Ticktum on Sunday, he not only secured first place on the grid and the best chance of his first home win. At the same time, the Porsche driver reduced his deficit in the championship to Oliver Rowland, who will only start Sunday's race from 8th place.

Group A: Hughes crashes himself out of the top 4

Sunday's qualifying started without rain and on time at 11:20 CEST, but with only ten drivers in Group A. Lucas di Grassi was unable to take part after suffering a serious accident in the 3rd free practice . The Lola team had to rebuild the car from scratch with a new monocoque. However, in an interview with e-Formula.news, team boss Thomas Biermaier hoped to have the car ready for the race again.

In the first half of the twelve-minute session, the two DS Penske drivers were in front. However, Max Günther was expecting to be demoted three places on the grid anyway because he had ignored a black and orange flag in free practice. Then the two Maserati drivers went full power - Stellantis on the advance! Stoffel Vandoorne led ahead of team-mate Jake Hughes with three minutes to go.

Then there was a crash: Hughes drove straight ahead in turn 2 and first hit the side of the wall, then more or less head-on against the TecPro barrier. "I hit the brakes", he explained later. The Briton got out of his badly damaged Maserati uninjured. Race control interrupted the session with a red flag to have the barrier repaired. Because Hughes had caused the interruption, the man who had been in second place up to that point lost his lap time and retired early in sixth place in the group. Team-mate Vandoorne remained first. Taylor Barnard, Dan Ticktum and Oliver Rowland also entered the duel phase.

Group B: Porsche dominates, Müller continues with Andretti for the first time

At 11:46, the action finally resumed with Group B, which included some high-calibre drivers such as Pascal Wehrlein, Mitch Evans, Antonio Felix da Costa and Edo Mortara. In the meantime, the track had dried out - finally sunshine over Tempelhof! As a result, lap times dropped to under a minute in the first half of the session. Edo Mortara was leading at this point, ahead of Sam Bird and the two Envision drivers Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi.

But then came the two Porsche works drivers: Wehrlein took the lead with a three-tenths of a second advantage over team-mate Felix da Costa. Robin Frijns improved to third place and Nico Müller also made it into the quarter-finals - for the first time this season! Saturday's winner Evans narrowly missed out in fifth ahead of Mortara. Local hero David Beckmann finished behind him ahead of Bird, Sebastien Buemi, Felipe Drugovich and a disappointing Nick Cassidy.

Overview: Formula E qualifying in Berlin

Quarter-finals

QF1: Dan Ticktum vs Taylor Barnard

In the duel between the two Brits, which Barnard had won both times in the past, Ticktum got off to the slightly better start. In sector 2, the Kiro rider was even four tenths of a second faster because Barnard made a small mistake! Ticktum extended his lead to more than six tenths and qualified confidently for the semi-final.

QF2: Oliver Rowland vs Stoffel Vandoorne

In sector 1, championship leader Rowland left no stone unturned and was a good tenth of a second faster than Vandoorne. He was also clearly better in sector 2. In the end, the Nissan driver was more than three tenths faster than the Maserati driver and progressed unchallenged.

QF3: Robin Frijns vs Antonio Felix da Costa

Both drivers set almost identical times in the first section of the track. In the second sector, Felix da Costa was able to carve out a small lead before both were back on equal terms in the final section. Ultimately, the Porsche driver was 88 thousandths of a second faster than Frijns!

QF4: Nico Müller vs Pascal Wehrlein

World champion Wehrlein opened the final quarter-final with a strong first sector. He further increased his lead in the second sector and eventually moved into the semi-finals with a clear lead of more than six tenths of a second. And he did so against his Porsche team-mate Felix da Costa, of all people, whom he had shot down in the first free practice session on Friday!

Semi-final

SF1: Dan Ticktum v Oliver Rowland

Ticktum opened the first semi-final with a good first sector time, which was slightly slower than Rowland's, however. However, sector 2 and the final section went to the Kiro driver, who celebrated his first Formula E victory in Jakarta. As a result, Ticktum put in a good performance in the qualifying final - but the world championship favourite was out! Due to his five-position grid penalty, he will start the race from 8th on the grid.

SF2: Antonio Felix da Costa vs. Pascal Wehrlein

The duel between the two Porsche works drivers began once again with a very strong first sector from Wehrlein. In the second sector, he was a further two tenths faster than Felix da Costa. In the end, he took almost 6.5 tenths of a second from his team-mate - a powerful lap and new track record from the reigning world champion!

Final: Dan Ticktum vs. Pascal Wehrlein

The qualifying duel between Wehrlein and Ticktum has only taken place once before, in the semi-final at the Tokyo E-Prix a few weeks ago. On that occasion, the up-and-coming Ticktum prevailed against the reigning champion. This time, Wehrlein clearly got off to the better start! The German extended his lead in the second sector. Now it was getting exciting. Although the final section went to Ticktum, it was enough for the world champion: Pascal Wehrlein on pole position at his home race in Berlin!

This is Wehrlein's ninth pole in Formula E in total, putting him in fifth place on the perpetual leaderboard. It also secured him three additional championship points, reducing his deficit on Rowland from 50 to 47 points. Ahead of the potentially title-deciding race at Tempelhof on Sunday, Wehrlein has put himself in the best possible position to make the championship exciting once again!

The 14th race of the 2024-25 Formula E World Championship season will take place on Sunday afternoon at 4pm CEST. e-Formula.news will be following the race as usual in the Formula E live ticker - ideal as a "second screen" for real fans!

Results, lap times & starting grid

Championship standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)

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