Formula E

Qualifying in Miami: Norman Nato surprisingly secures his first pole position in Formula E

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

Paddy McGrath / Spacesuit Media

Norman Nato - with no points so far in the 2024-25 Formula E season - surprisingly took pole position at the Miami E-Prix. The Nissan driver beat his former Andretti team-mate Jake Dennis in the final duel. Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) and Robin Frijns (Envision) finished on the second row of the grid. Qualifying certainly produced a few surprises...

Group A: Beckmann makes it through the group stage, Rowland makes a mistake!

Oliver Rowland, Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix da Costa were among the favourites in the first qualifying group. Rowland was the fastest for the first half of the session, but the lap times fell steadily. In the final minutes, Felix da Costa led the group, followed by Jake Dennis, David Beckmann and Edo Mortara. But then came a few more fast laps. Stoffel Vandoorne climbed to second place behind Felix da Costa.

World championship leader Rowland, on the other hand, missed the chicane and was dramatically eliminated from the race in eighth place! Edo Mortara, Sebastien Buemi, Mitch Evans (!), Nico Müller, Zane Maloney and Jake Hughes also failed to reach the duels.

Group B: Big surprises & a strong Frijns

In the second group, Nick Cassidy took the lead early on, but a short time later, he braked in the chicane and aborted his attempt. The first serious times came after just under eight minutes. Lucas di Grassi took the lead ahead of Norman Nato, Pascal Wehrlein and Taylor Barnard. De Vries, for his part, moved up into the top three, then came the decisive attempts. The biggest surprise came from Robin Frijns: the Dutchman put his Envision in first place! Di Grassi remained second ahead of Nato and de Vries.

In contrast, the following drivers were eliminated - in some cases very surprisingly: Pascal Wehrlein, Taylor Barnard, Nick Cassidy, Dan Ticktum, Jean-Eric Vergne, Sam Bird and Maximilian Günther.

Overview: Formula E qualifying in Jeddah

Quarter-finals

QF1: Jake Dennis vs Stoffel Vandoorne

Dennis opened the first duel with a slightly better first sector. The second section of the track even went clearly in the Brit's favour, meaning that he ultimately prevailed over Vandoorne with a commanding lead of more than half a second - and a new track record!

QF2: David Beckmann vs Antonio Felix da Costa

Beckmann began his first Formula E duel with a slower sector than Felix da Costa. In section 2, he made a major mistake in the chicane and lost a good second on the Portuguese driver. In the end, Felix da Costa easily advanced to the semi-finals with a 1.2-second lead.

QF3: Norman Nato vs. Lucas di Grassi

In this - somewhat surprising - quarter-final, Nato got off to the better start. In sector 2, the Frenchman even pulled out a further half-second advantage over di Grassi and finally sealed the deal with a lead of more than seven tenths of a second. Nato in the semi-finals!

QF4: Nyck de Vries vs. Robin Frijns

In the duel between the two Dutchmen, Frijns was slightly faster than de Vries in sector 1. The tide then turned in favour of de Vries. However, the final section of the track went back to Frijns, allowing him to prevail by just over a tenth of a second.

Semi-final

SF1: Antonio Felix da Costa vs. Jake Dennis

In the duel between the two Porsche powertrains, Felix da Costa initially got the better of Dennis and took more than a tenth of a second off him. Sector 2 also went to the works driver, but then Dennis struck back: with a lead of 21 thousandths of a second, he prevailed in the final metres and advanced to the qualifying final - a great success for the Andretti team at their home race!

SF2: Robin Frijns vs Norman Nato

In the first two sectors, Nato started really quick. Although Frijns was able to counterattack again in the third sector, he was ultimately almost three tenths of a second behind the Frenchman. Nato obviously understood the warnings after his dismal season so far and delivered just when Nissan team-mate Rowland had failed to reach the duel phase for the first time.

Final: Jake Dennis vs Norman Nato

In the final duel between the former Andretti team-mates, the first section of the race went narrowly to Nato! The Nissan underdog even extended his lead in the second sector. Although Dennis was able to win the final section again, it was not enough for him! Norman Nato sensationally secured pole position in Miami with a lead of almost 1.3 tenths of a second - his first ever in Formula E! He also collected his first three championship points of the current season.

The fifth round of the 2024/25 Formula E World Championship season will take place on Saturday evening at 8 pm (CEST). e-Formula.news will follow the race as usual in the Formula E live ticker - ideal as a "second screen" for real fans!

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