Nick Cassidy once again gave his opponents no chance and demonstrated full knowledge of the New York track to beat Antonio Félix da Costa and secure another pole position for Envision in the 2022 season
After the chaos at the end of race 1 of the eP New York, held on Saturday (16), Formula E returned to Brooklyn for qualifying for race 2, which takes place this Sunday. Nick Cassidy showed once again that he is the man to beat on American soil and secured the pole position for race 2 by beating Antonio Félix da Costa at the finish, once again demonstrating total domination of the track where he has scored three of the last four poles.
The two Brazilians drew attention in the qualifying session in New York at different moments: Sérgio Sette Câmara did the impossible with the Dragon car and took the team to the knockout stage again - with the detail of having qualified at the top of the group. Soon after, Lucas Di Grassi also managed to finish in the lead, but had his times deleted for not respecting the minimum pit stop time and was eliminated.
Now Formula E will only return at the end of the month. The eP London double round, the penultimate round of the championship, is scheduled to take place on July 30 and 31.
Check out the standings for race 2 in New York:
▶️ Get to know GRANDE PRÊMIO's channel on Twitch by clicking here!
Group A
Unlike on Saturday, Sérgio Sette Câmara managed to complete his first lap without any problems and opened the timesheet in Brooklyn with 1min10s442. Soon after, Robin Frijns took over the lead with 1min10s051, before Alexander Sims took the lead with 1min09s981.
As the track improved, other drivers set better times than the leaders. Soon, the qualifying for the knockout stage changed: Frijns took over first place, with Pascal Wehrlein, Jean-Èric Vergne, and Nyck de Vries completing the group. Sette Câmara managed to lower his time to 1min09s948 and was in fifth place after the first round of attempts.
Championship leader Edoardo Mortara had problems in the first part of qualifying and was the only driver in Group A not to register a lap. It is worth noting that the Venturi car driven by the Swiss driver had to be repaired overnight after the widespread crash that ended the race on Saturday.
However, as all drivers need to set a time in the first half of qualifying, the Venturi driver was investigated by race direction just before the cars left the pit-lane for their final attempts.
Sette Câmara again lowered his time at the last attempt, making it clear that he can do more than what is possible with the Dragon equipment, and took the lead: 1min09s566. Nick Cassidy took second place, De Vries became third, and Sims was fourth.
Oliver Askew, Robin Frijns, Pascal Wehrlein, Jean-Èric Vergne, Oliver Rowland, Sam Bird, and Edoardo Mortara were eliminated, in that order. The Swiss Venturi driver didn't even take to the track, will start from the last row at the start of race 2, and his title chances are now in serious jeopardy.
Group B
In the opening of the second group, Antonio Giovinazzi was the first to set a time of 1min10s474, quickly overtaken by Lucas Di Grassi: 1min09s700. Mitch Evans took the lead from the Brazilian soon after, before Antonio Félix da Costa set a 1min09s407 and took the lead.
André Lotterer was second with 1min09s467, just ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Mitch Evans, two title contenders who were completing the qualifying at that point. In the last attempt before the cars returned to the pits for the second round of laps, Di Grassi went down to 1min09s552 and knocked Evans out of the top-4.
In the last round of attempts, history repeated with Brazil in the lead: Lucas Di Grassi wrote down 1min09s371, set the fastest lap of the session and guaranteed the top of Group B. However, he had his two fastest laps cancelled by the race direction for not having stayed in the pits for the minimum determined time, and ended up with only the tenth place.
Mitch Evans took the lead with 1min09s371, while António Félix da Costa, Stoffel Vandoorne, and André Lotterer completed the qualifiers for the knockout stage. The eliminated drivers were in the following order: Jake Dennis, Antonio Giovinazzi, Sébastien Buemi, Maximilian Günther, Dan Ticktum, Di Grassi, and Oliver Turvey.
Quarterfinals
André Lotterer vs. Sérgio Sette Câmara
Despite the strong pace, the Brazilian driver couldn't get enough out of Dragon to beat the Porsche car: 1min08s685 for Lotterer, while Sette Câmara scored 1min08s726 and was left by the wayside.
Stoffel Vandoorne vs. Nick Cassidy
In the replay of the final that defined the pole position for race 1, Cassidy showed that his victory over Vandoorne the day before was no fluke: the New Zealander clocked 1min08s657 against 1min08s765 of the Belgian, who made a small mistake during the lap and was eliminated in the first heat.
Nyck de Vries vs. António Félix da Costa
The last two Formula E champions faced each other soon after, and another Mercedes was eliminated. The Portuguese driver managed to set a lap time of 1min08s721, while De Vries also made a small mistake and did not pass 1min08s880.
Alexander Sims-Mitch Evans
In a Mahindra x Jaguar duel, Evans knew that a win was essential to keep his chances of fighting for the title alive. However, he made a mistake right at the opening lap and could not recover until the end: he scored 1min08s802, against Sims' 1min08s796 - who qualified for the semifinal by 0s006.
Semifinals
André Lotterer vs. Nick Cassidy
After dispatching Pascal Wehrlein in one of Saturday's duels, Nick Cassidy again faced a Porsche on Sunday - this time with André Lotterer at the wheel. The German was the first to cross the finish line and posted a 1min10s420, but made a mistake and was no match for the best driver of the weekend: 1min08s795 for the Envision driver, who made no mistakes and went into the final more than 1s ahead.
Alexander Sims vs. António Félix da Costa
In the last duel before the final, António Félix da Costa didn't give chances to the zebra: he scored 1min08s681 and eliminated Sims - who scored 1min08s830.
Final
Nick Cassidy vs. António Félix da Costa
In the last duel of the weekend, Cassidy showed all his skill and track dominance in New York: 1min08s584 for the Envision driver, while Da Costa did not go past 1min08s751 and will complete the front row.
