Formula E qualifying on Sunday in Berlin: Pascal Wehrlein starts home race from pole position

At a warm 26 degrees outside and 32 degrees track temperature in Berlin, German Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein secured pole position. Behind him, Taylor Barnard will start the race on Sunday afternoon, while Nick Cassidy will start from third on the grid. World championship leader Edo Mortara narrowly missed out on the duels and will start the race from 10th position.

Group A: Cassidy fastest in Group A

Edoardo Mortara, Nick Cassidy, Nico Müller, Oliver Rowland, Sebastien Buemi, Dan Ticktum, Taylor Barnard, Jean-Eric Vergne, Norman Nato and Felip Drugovich lined up in the first group of the qualifying session. The ten drivers took to the track on time at 11:40 local time.

Rowland and Ticktum went back into the garage after two laps to change their tyres and were the last drivers to set their first lap times. Cassidy had been told over the radio at the start of the group that he should do three prep laps before attempting a fast lap for the first time. This also seemed to apply to all the other drivers: The first faster lap times came after seven minutes.

The New Zealander in the Citroen took his place at the front of the field with a time of 0:58.440 minutes, followed by Barnard, Drugovich and Vergne, where they were able to maintain their position. For these four drivers, it was then on to the duel phase of qualifying. The pole-sitter from the previous day, Mortara, did not make it into the duels, with the Swiss driver finishing the group in fifth place after making slight contact with the wall. Behind him were Müller, Buemi, Nato, Rowland and Ticktum, for whom qualifying also ended in the group stage.

Group B: Felix da Costa sets fastest lap time

In Group B, Pascal Wehrlein, Mitch Evans, Antonio Felix da Costa, Jake Dennis, Pepe Marti, Joel Eriksson, Nyck de Vries, Maximilian Günther, Zane Maloney and Felipe Drugovich battled it out in the duels.

It also took a long time for the faster laps to arrive in the second group of qualifying; for a long time, the times were still over a lap time of one minute. After seven minutes, the best times here were also around the 58-second mark. Felix da Costa led the field with a time of 0:58.439 minutes, followed by Eriksson, Maloney and Wehrlein. These four drivers were also able to hold their places in the last two minutes and thus secured their tickets for the duel phase. De Vries, Günther, Dennis, di Grassi, Evans and Marti, however, did not make it through.

Quarter finals

VF1: Felipe Drugovich vs Taylor Barnard

The Brazilian in the Andretti and the Briton in the DS Penske initially fought a very close duel. Over the course of the lap, however, the Brit was able to extend his lead and beat Drugovich's lap time by 0.413 seconds.

VF2: Jean-Eric Vergne vs Nick Cassidy

The second quarter-final pitted Citroen drivers Vergne and Cassidy against each other. However, Cassidy managed to dominate each of the three track sectors and secured his place in the semi-finals.

VF3: Zane Maloney vs Joel Eriksson

This Sunday's third quarter-final saw a duel between two drivers who have never won a duel in their Formula E careers: Zane Maloney and Joel Eriksson. Both drivers drove very similar laps, but in the end 0.140 seconds separated the Envision driver from the Lola driver. Eriksson secured his place in the semi-finals with a slightly better time in all three sectors.

VF4: Pascal Wehrlein vs Antonio Felix da Costa

The two former Porsche team-mates Wehrlein and Felix da Costa lined up in quick succession in Sunday's last quarter-final. With strong sector times in the second and third sectors, Wehrlein ultimately completed the lap 0.328 seconds faster than the Portuguese driver in the Jaguar. The Formula E world champion from season 10 therefore progressed to the semi-finals.

Semi-final

HF1: Taylor Barnard vs Nick Cassidy

Not much separated the Brit and the New Zealander at the start, but a small mistake by Cassidy at the end of the lap meant that Barnard progressed to the final. 0.161 seconds faster than Cassidy.

HF2: Pascal Wehrlein vs. Joel Eriksson

Wehrlein was able to build up a good lead at the start of the lap thanks to a slight mistake by Eriksson in the first sector, and extended this even further over the course of the lap. 0.547 seconds separated the two drivers at the end, meaning that Wehrlein went on to the final of this qualifying session.

Final: Taylor Barnard vs. Pascal Wehrlein

The lap times of Porsche driver Wehrlein and DS Penske driver Barnard were incredibly close from the start to the end of the decisive lap. In the end, the two drivers were separated by 0.038 seconds, with Wehrlein being the faster one. The German Porsche driver thus secured pole position in his home race. It was the eleventh pole position of his career.

His Porsche team-mate and race winner from the previous day, Nico Müller, will start Sunday afternoon's race from 12th on the grid, with Maximilian Günther in the second DS Penske one position ahead of him.

The second race of this "double-header" in Berlin takes place at 16:05 (CEST). e-Formula.news will be following the race as usual in the Formel E live ticker - ideal as a "second screen" for real fans!

Results, times & starting grid

Results & lap times

Championship standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)