Ticktum beats de Vries to first Monaco E-Prix pole

It looked as if Nyck de Vries might be the man to beat going into qualifying for the first race of the Monaco E-Prix after he topped both practice sessions earlier on Saturday, but Dan Ticktum spoiled the Mahindra driver’s party with an impressive run to pole.

The Cupra Kiro driver set a time of 1m26.551s in the final, 0.131s quicker than de Vries, despite a subtle brush with the wall coming out of Casino. The gap was around two tenths, in Ticktum’s favor, after the second sector, but while de Vries was able to make up some time in the final sector, it wasn’t enough to come out on top.

Ticktum was fourth in the first Group session, behind Pascal Wehrlein, Maximilian Guenther, and Nico Mueller, then disposed of Porsche driver Wehrlein by 0.255s in his first Duel, calling it "the lap of my life on that tire".

He then beat Guenther in the Semifinals after a scrappy lap from the DS Penske driver who slid into Sainte Devote, clipped the wall at Tabac, then ran wide in the final turn. Ticktum also had a brush with the wall in that head-to-head.

de Vries was second in his Group, between the Jaguars of Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix da Costa, with Envision Racing's Joel Eriksson also advancing. In his first Duel, de Vries saw off da Costa who had a snap of oversteer heading into Massinet, then ran slightly deep into the Grand Hotel Hairpin. He then beat Evans in the Semifinals to set up the Final with Ticktum.

The pole is Ticktum’s second in Formula E after last year’s season finale in London, although a five-place grid penalty meant he didn’t actually start at the front of the field on that occasion.

Guenther will start Saturday afternoon's race from third alongside Evans, with the Porsches of Wehrlein and Mueller occupying the third row of the grid. Eriksson will start seventh with da Costa eighth, with Jean-Eric Vergne the highest of those who didn't make the Duels in ninth.

Felipe Drugovich will start 10th for Andretti, ahead of DS Penske's Taylor Barnard and Oliver Rowland who clipped a wall on his last flying lap. That lap was enough for fourth in the moment, but he soon fell out of the transfer spots after a late flurry of lap times from others.

Andretti's Jake Dennis will start 13th, ahead of Nissan's Norman Nato, Formula E's most successful driver in Monaco Sebastien Buemi, and Pepe Marti. Nick Cassidy and Lucas di Grassi will line up 17th and 18th as the lowest of those that made qualifying, with Edoardo Mortara and Zane Maloney filling the back row of the grid.

Mortara didn't make it out of the garage in the first Group session after suffering an unrevealed mechanical problem that the team said couldn't be rectified in parc ferme conditions, while Maloney sat out the session after crashing in FP2.

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