Dennis to start Sao Paulo E-Prix from pole after Wehrlein penalty

Pascal Wehrlein topped qualifying for the Sao Paulo E-Prix for the third season in a row, but will not start from pole position after receiving a penalty ahead of the final head-to-head Duel with Jake Dennis.

The Porsche driver was handed a three-place grid penalty for wheelspin in the pit lane, a new rule in the sporting regulations for this season. That handed Dennis pole by default – a fortuitous outcome since Wehrlein beat the Andretti driver by 0.302s in the final head-to-head Duel.

Neither driver topped their respective groups at the start of qualifying, with Dennis getting through Group A in fourth, behind Antonio Felix da Costa, Jean-Eric Vergne, and Edoardo Mortara, and only 0.050s ahead of fifth placed Oliver Rowland who didn't advance to the head-to-heads.

Wehrlein was second in Group B, just 0.055s behind Norman Nato, with Nyck de Vries and Dan Ticktum also advancing. Wehrlein beat de Vries and Ticktum in his first two Duels, and set times in the 1m09s in all three of his head-to-heads.

Dennis had a consistent theme of his own throughout the Duels – however, it was a pattern of struggling in Sector 1. He recovered to beat da Costa in his QuarterFinal, then repeated the feat in his Semi against Mortara.

Despite Wehrlein's penalty, it remains a Porsche-powered front row lockup, with the Andretti of Dennis leading the Cupra Kiro (powered by an older iteration of powertrain) of Dan Ticktum.

Mortara inherited third for Mahindra, with Wehrlein dropping to fourth – he will, however, retain the three points for achieving pole position even though he won’t start from there – while de Vries will start directly behind his teammate in fifth, alongside da Costa. Nato will start in seventh, with Vergne in eighth and Mitch Evans – who missed out on advancing to the Duels by just 0.054s – and Sebastien Buemi completing the top 10.

Nico Mueller will start his first race for the Porsche factory team in 11th, ahead of Taylor Barnard who failed to advance after clipping the wall in the final corner on his last lap in Group B. It didn't prevent him from setting the fastest final sector time, but he had already lost time earlier in the lap that he wasn't able to recover.

Oliver Rowland will line up 13th – carrying a three-place grid drop for a penalty received at last season's London E-Prix for a collision with Mueller – ahead of Pepe Marti, who is the highest-placed rookie on the grid in 14th. Nick Cassidy will start his Citroen debut from 15th, ahead of Maximilian Guenther.

Felipe Drugovich will start 17th after clipping the Turn 4 wall and breaking a steering arm in the Group stage.

Joel Eriksson will start 18th, with the Lola Yamaha Abts of Zane Maloney and Lucas di Grassi occupying the back row of the grid after both suffering from driveshaft issues early in the session.

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