Rowland continues Tokyo Formula E pole streak after rapid Ticktum crashes

Oliver Rowland emerged from qualifying for the second race of the Tokyo E-Prix on top, maintaining his streak of being the only driver to ever start a Formula E race in the city from pole position.

But as with Saturday, when he was awarded pole based on his FP2 time after qualifying was washed out, luck played a huge part.

The Nissan driver was going head-to-head with Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum in the Final of the Duels stage of qualifying, and it was Ticktum who looked to be on course for pole, having set the best sector 1 and 2 times of anyone all weekend. But he was late on the brakes into Turn 15, and clouted the wall on the exit of the corner, ending his hopes of stopping Rowland’s Tokyo pole run.

Rowland’s pole time of 1m 12.615 was his slowest in the Duels, but he had set the fastest lap time of the weekend so far en route to the Final.

After finishing third in Group A, he took on his teammate Norman Nato in his first duel, and Nato was up in the first sector. Nato, however, clipped the wall at Turn 11, handing what would ultimately be an easy win for Rowland.

It was in his Semifinal where Rowland set that weekend-best time of 1m 12.028, ensuring he beat Jean-Eric Vergne, who had seen off surprise Group B pacesetter Lucas di Grassi in his first Duel.

Ticktum also finished third in his group, and made light work of Edoardo Mortara in his first Duel, beating the Mahindra driver by 0.581s. He then defeated Pascal Wehrlein, who like Rowland opened his Duels run with a face-off against his teammate.

Despite coming agonisingly close to pole, Ticktum still secured his best-ever Formula E qualifying result with second.

Behind the lead duo, Wehrlein will start third, alongside Vergne, with Mortara and di Grassi fifth and sixth respectively.

The fourth row of the grid will be occupied by da Costa and Nato, with NEOM McLaren's Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird locking out the fifth row of the grid.

Nyck de Vries will start 11th, ahead of Maximilian Guenther, Nick Cassidy, Jake Dennis and Zane Maloney, with David Beckmann down in 16th after being penalized three positions for impeding Mortara in the Group stage.

Sebastien Buemi, Jake Hughes, Saturday race winner Stoffel Vandoorne, and Nico Mueller are next up, with Mitch Evans 21st after crashing out of the first group. The Jaguar TCS Racing driver slammed into the wall at Turn 16, shearing off his right rear wheel.

Robin Frijns completes the grid for Envision Racing having been hit with a 20-place penalty following an unapproved change of his Motor Control Unit following the morning's practice session.

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