Formula E

Formula E: Max Günther beats Pascal Wehrlein in the Jeddah qualifying final & takes pole position!

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

Adam Pigott / Spacesuit Media

Max Günther has secured pole position for Friday's Formula E race in Jeddah! The DS Penske driver prevailed in the German final against Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein to secure the first three championship points of the weekend. Oliver Rowland in the Nissan and Taylor Barnard in the McLaren finished on row 2.

Group A: Barnard & Felix da Costa surprise

The first group of the qualifying session in Jeddah included FP2 winner Antonio Felix da Costa, Max Günther and both Jaguar, Envision and McLaren drivers. The first notable best time came after just over seven minutes from Nick Cassidy. The secret favourite was Nyck de Vries, who was able to start after his collision with Stoffel Vandoorne in practice and incidentally did not receive a penalty. Vandoorne, for his part, had received a warning for impeding. De Vries moved up to second place, with Taylor Barnard in the lead after three quarters of the session.

Then came the decisive rounds. Barnard - until then the worst qualifier of the season - maintained his lead until the end and won Group A! Behind him, Günther, de Vries and Mitch Evans entered the duel phase - a sign of life from Jaguar! His team-mate Nick Cassidy narrowly missed out in fifth place. Behind them were Sam Bird, Felix da Costa (!), Nico Müller, Sebastien Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Robin Frijns. World championship leader Felix da Costa, in particular, returned to the Porsche pits disappointed.

Group B: Hughes & Ticktum make it to the quarter-finals

The favourites in Group B were world champion Pascal Wehrlein and Mexico winner Oliver Rowland. The two Maserati drivers romped to the front early on before Rowland took the lead in the timesheets after around five minutes - but was still several seconds off the track record. Edo Mortara was unable to leave his pit box due to a last-minute battery change and was therefore unable to set a lap time. The part change also resulted in a penalty for the Swiss driver.

The lap times dropped in the final minutes. Wehrlein took the lead, followed by Dan Ticktum, Jean-Eric Vergne and Jake Hughes. However, Rowland set the fastest lap time as time expired! Hughes followed his compatriot into second place, pushing Vergne out of the top four, with Porsche-powered drivers Wehrlein and Ticktum taking third and fourth place respectively in the quarter-finals. Norman Nato, Stoffel Vandoorne, Jake Dennis, who had a wild spin, David Beckmann, Zane Maloney and Mortara followed from 6th place onwards.

Overview: Formula E qualifying in Jeddah

Quarter-finals

QF1: Nyck de Vries vs Max Günther

De Vries opened the duel phase against Günther - a duel that had never been seen before in the Gen3 era. Günther led the way with a strong first sector, in which he took a good two tenths of a second off de Vries. The German was also significantly faster in the second and third sectors and qualified for the semi-finals with a lead of more than seven tenths of a second.

QF2: Mitch Evans vs. Taylor Barnard

Then came the surprise of the group stage - Taylor Barnard - and was again faster than top driver Evans in the first section. However, the "Kiwi" countered in the second sector. But because the final section of the track went to the McLaren youngster again, he ultimately prevailed over Evans by a narrow margin of 14 thousandths of a second. Barnard in the semi-finals for the first time!

QF3: Pascal Wehrlein vs Jake Hughes

In the first sector, both drivers were still on an equal footing, but then world champion Wehrlein was able to carve out a small advantage. After a mistake by Hughes in the final section of the track, Wehrlein's lead grew to almost a second - partly because he set the fastest lap ever up to that point. The German thus advanced to the final four with aplomb.

QF4: Dan Ticktum vs Oliver Rowland

In the duel between the two Brits, Rowland got off to the slightly better start. The Nissan driver also took time off his compatriot Ticktum in the following two sectors, gaining a lead of almost four tenths of a second. Ticktum's lap time was cancelled anyway because he had disregarded the track limits. Nevertheless, eighth place on the grid was not a bad result for Cupra Kiro.

Semi-final

SF1: Taylor Barnard vs Max Günther

In sector 1, Barnard and Günther were almost equally fast. The DS Penske driver was then able to pull away slightly, but only by a tenth of a second. The German did the same in the final section of the track and crossed the finish line with a narrow lead of 1.77 tenths of a second. Günther in the final in Jeddah!

SF2: Pascal Wehrlein vs Oliver Rowland

In the duel between the qualifying giants, Rowland started with an outstanding first sector - around two tenths faster than Wehrlein! In the second sector, both were almost equally fast, with a slight advantage for the Porsche driver. Sector 3 also went to Wehrlein, with the world champion coming out on top by 59 thousandths of a second. 1:14.999 minutes - what a lap from the world champion, a new track record! Wehrlein thus made it into the qualifying final for the third time in the third race of the season.

Final: Max Günther vs. Pascal Wehrlein

The German duel between Günther and Wehrlein had already taken place five times in the Gen3 era. Wehrlein won three times, most recently in the semi-final in Sao Paulo, and Günther twice. This time, Günther got off to the slightly better start! However, Wehrlein was able to catch up with his compatriot again in the second section. Now it came down to the final section - where Wehrlein made a rare mistake and lost a good four tenths of a second! Max Günther took pole position in Jeddah - his third in Formula E!

"I am very happy with the first pole position with my new team," said Günther shortly after qualifying. "I was fast, but also really on the limit." Wehrlein was also satisfied with grid position 2: "It's a bit of a shame that I lost the rear once in the last sector, but all in all, I'm happy with qualifying."

The third round of the 2024/25 Formula E World Championship season will take place on Friday evening at 6pm (CET). e-Formula.news will follow the race as usual in the live ticker - ideal as a "second screen" for real fans!

Results, times & starting grid

Overall standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)

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