Jean-Eric Vergne secured his 17th FIA Formula E pole position in preparation for the Portland E-Prix this afternoon. The French driver showcased the impressive speed of his DS Penske car, completing a lap in 1:07.778s to claim first place. Antonio Felix da Costa, winner of Race 1, finished in second place. Sam Bird also had an incredible performance, qualifying in third position, followed by Robin Frijns in fourth and Jake Hughes in fifth. Nick Cassidy, determined to recover from his previous mistake, qualified in sixth place, just ahead of his title rival Pascal Wehrlein. Nyck de Vries displayed a strong performance, securing eighth place, with Jehan Daruvala in ninth and Stoffel Vandoorne in tenth.
JEV CLAIMS POLE IN PORTLAND! ⚡️ The @DS_Penske_FE driver surpasses yesterday’s race winner in the Duels finals to secure the @JuliusBaer Pole Position for the 14th round! @Hankook_Sport #PortlandEPrix pic.twitter.com/FGQEePoqZJ
HOW QUALIFYING UNFOLDED
GROUPS
In Group A, Mitch Evans, who had secured pole position on Saturday, was eliminated, while Frijns posted the fastest time of 1:09.665s. Vergne followed closely in second place, with Cassidy in third and Hughes in fourth. Both Max Günther and Jehan Daruvala from the Maserati team were also eliminated, along with Nico Müller and Lucas di Grassi from the ABT Cupra team, who had a strong performance on Saturday. Sébastien Buemi and Dan Ticktum also failed to advance.
Da Costa, winner of Race 1, led Group B with a time of 1:09.726s, beating Bird by just six hundredths of a second. De Vries finished in third place, with Wehrlein in fourth, managing to qualify despite Jake Dennis’ mistake on his last lap. Stoffel Vandoorne, Sacha Fenestraz, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Norman Nato, and Caio Collet were the other drivers who failed to advance.
DUELS
In the first duel, Cassidy faced Vergne, but a mistake at T7 by the New Zealander allowed Vergne to secure a spot in the semifinals, despite a significant slip at the exit of the last turn.
In the duel between Hughes and Frijns, Frijns maintained his good performance from the weekend, beating the McLaren driver by a difference of 0.014s.
Bird, who had a good performance in Race 1, advanced to the next round with a time almost two tenths faster than De Vries.
In a duel between da Costa and Wehrlein, both from Porsche, the Portuguese driver comfortably advanced with a three-tenths advantage over his opponent in the title race.
SEMIFINALS
In the first semifinal, Vergne took advantage of another mistake at T7, this time by Frijns, securing a place in the final.
In the second semifinal, da Costa narrowly defeated Bird, setting himself up for a guaranteed front-row position on the grid for the race.
FINAL
Vergne’s impressive performance continued in the final, as he claimed pole position, finishing two hundredths of a second ahead of da Costa. This sets the stage for an exciting Race 2.
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