Pole to de Vries for London Formula E title-decider

Nyck de Vries backed up his table-topping performance in final practice to take pole position for the Formula E season finale in London.

It was an all-Mahindra Final in the Duels stage after the pair knocked out both Porsches in the Semifinals and de Vries swept all three sectors to set the fastest lap ever seen at the London ExCeL Centre, a 1m06.925s, and take pole by 0.195s. With this weekend being the last time Formula E will visit the East London exhibition center, it’s a lap record unlikely to ever be broken.

Ahead of the Duels de Vries topped the opening Group ahead of championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans, with Evans' Jaguar TCS Racing teammate Antonio Felix da Costa missing out on advancing by 0.009s.

De Vries then saw off Evans in his first Duel. Despite Evans going quicker in the first sector, de Vries responded in the second and third sectors to go 0.177s quicker overall. That then set up a Semifinal with Wehrlein who was quicker in the latter two thirds of the lap, but a strong opening sector from de Vries gave him the win.

Edoardo Mortara also topped his group – despite a mistake on his final flying lap where he clipped a wall at Turn 17 and bent his steering – ahead of Nico Mueller, Dan Ticktum, and Taylor Barnard. Andretti driver Jake Dennis, who is five points off the championship lead, failed to advance from Group B.

Mortara bested Barnard in his first Duel to go up against Mueller in the Semifinals. Mueller had an easy run to the semis after brake-by-wire issues led to a lock-up for Cupra Kiro’s Ticktum at Turn 10, handing the first round win to the factory Porsche driver. By then beating Mueller, it consigned both Porsches to the second row of the grid after they’d locked out the front row on Saturday.

The pole is de Vries’ first in the GEN3 era, coming in its final race, and his first since the second race of the Diriyah E-Prix in 2022. For Mahindra it was a first front-row lockout and gives the team the final GEN3 pole to go with the first one which it achieved in the cycle’s maiden race in Mexico City in 2023.

Behind the Mahindras and Porsches, Evans will start fifth, needing nothing less than a win to secure a first Formula E title.

DS Penske driver Barnard will start sixth, ahead of Citroen’s Cassidy and Ticktum, with da Costa ninth and Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi 10th. Andretti’s Felipe Drugovich will start 11th ahead of Citroen driver Jean-Eric Vergne, and Pepe Marti in the other Kiro.

Marti is serving a three-place penalty for causing a collision with Vergne in Saturday’s race. Maximilian Guenther, starting 14th, is another serving a three-place penalty for exiting the pits under a red light in FP3.

Joel Eriksson will line up 15th for Envision, ahead of Dennis, who will also secure the championship, albeit regardless of Wehrlein and Evans' results.

Oliver Rowland will start 17th for Nissan, ahead of Lola Yamaha Abt’s Zane Maloney, with Norman Nato in the other Nissan and Lucas di Grassi completing the grid.

Nato failed to set a lap in qualifying after stopping on his out lap with a brake problem, while di Grassi failed to take to the track at all, a hangover from his stoppage in FP3. In what will be his final professional race, di Grassi is also serving a 20-place grid penalty due to MGU and inverter changes, but that will be converted to a stop-and-go penalty.

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