An expert on the New York track, Nick Cassidy gave a strong demonstration of his ability to adapt to the Brooklyn layout and beat favorite Stoffel Vandoorne in the final to secure Envision's first pole in 2022
Formula E returned to New York on Saturday (16), and Nick Cassidy secured a surprising pole position for race 1 by beating favorite Stoffel Vandoorne at the end of a rain-drenched qualifying session that saw three of the four title contenders - all but the Mercedes driver - eliminated in the group stages. The Belgian, however, could not overcome the track knowledge of Cassidy - who was on the podium last year - and will complete the front row.
Among the session's highlights, the difficulty for the main drivers' world championship contenders to secure a ticket to the knockout stage drew attention. Of the top four drivers in the standings, the only one who managed to qualify was Mercedes' Stoffel Vandoorne. Edoardo Mortara, leader with Venturi, DS Techeetah's Jean-Èric Vergne, and Jaguar's Mitch Evans were all eliminated in the group stage.
The highlight - negative - of the day, Sérgio Sette Câmara hit the wall on his first attempt, at the beginning of qualifying, and destroyed the rear of the Dragon car. With the impact, the car of the mineiro was stopped on the track and the red flag was waved to remove it. On the other hand, Lucas Di Grassi had a great session and drove Venturi until the semifinal, when he fell to Vandoorne. With the result, the Brazilian starts third.
Race 1 of the Formula E in New York is scheduled for 2 pm (EST), with live broadcasting on TV Cultura and SporTV.
Check out the qualifying for race 1 in New York:
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Group A
As usual, Sérgio Sette Câmara was the first car to take to the track. Confident after getting strong times in free practice, the Dragon driver ended up losing the rear end while trying to do his first fast lap and hit the wall. So with just over nine minutes left in Group A, the red flag was waved and qualifying was halted.
When the session resumed, Nyck de Vries was the first to set his time and posted a 1min09s945, soon to be overtaken by Nick Cassidy. After the first round of laps, the qualifiers for the knockout round were Cassidy, De Vries, Maximilian Günther, and André Lotterer. Meanwhile, Stoffel Vandoorne and Edoardo Mortara - who are fighting point for point for the title - were fifth and eighth, respectively.
In the second - and last - attempt of the drivers, a very close peloton formed that ended up hindering the lap of some of them. Even so, Robin Frijns managed to set the best time with 1min09s528, followed by his teammate Nick Cassidy - in a great Envision qualifying. Finally, Vandoorne and Sébastien Buemi completed the qualifying spots.
Meanwhile, the big surprise of Group A was certainly Mortara, the championship leader, who reached a maximum of 1min09s777 and finished fifth, eliminated still in the first round by 0s008.
Group B
The start of Group B saw the first raindrops in New York, and Sam Bird was the first to set a time: 1min16s602, well above the drivers who participated in the first group. Then Lucas Di Grassi and Alexander Sims - who will leave Formula E at the end of the season - had no problems to beat the Brit's time, with the other Jaguar - driven by Mitch Evans - completing the top-4 after the first round of attempts.
With the arrival of rain, the cars remained on track and Pascal Wehrlein managed to take fourth place from the New Zealander, who still nurtures title chances. The drivers started to pit with four minutes left in Group B, all of them struggling to improve their times after the track started to get wet.
All said and done: with the weather change, no driver was able to improve his time in the second round of attempts. Thus, the classified drivers were Di Grassi, Sims, Bird, and Wehrlein, with Evans and Jean-Èric Vergne - directly involved in the fight for the title - eliminated. It is worth noting that of the four in contention, only one managed to qualify for the knockout stage: Vandoorne.
Quarterfinals:
- Pascal Wehrlein vs. Robin Frijns
In the first duel, the Dutch Envision driver had no chance against the German Porsche driver: Frijns clocked 1:14:799, while Wehrlein's 1:14:011 made it through to the semifinals.
- Sam Bird vs. Nick Cassidy
Bird already made a small mistake early in the lap, struggling against the wet track and seeing his Jaguar car slip on the track. The Briton clearly had a difficult 1min14s998, but it wasn't enough to eliminate Cassidy: the Envision driver posted a 1min13s657 and guaranteed both of the team's cars in the semifinal.
- Stoffel Vandoorne vs. Alexander Sims
Seeing the possibility of starting well ahead of his title rivals - all already eliminated - Vandoorne didn't give any chances to the underdogs and scored 1min13s040, eliminating Sims with no major scares.
- Sébastien Buemi vs. Lucas di Grassi
In another very tight race between two Formula E champions, Di Grassi got the best with 1min12s546, while Buemi scored 1min12s661 and was out of the semifinals. With the result, the Brazilian equaled his best qualifying performance of the season.
Semifinals:
- Nick Cassidy vs. Pascal Wehrlein
With a strong pace in qualifying, Cassidy kept up the pace and beat Wehrlein in one of the most balanced clashes of the weekend: 1min10s367 against 1min10s515.
- Lucas Di Grassi vs. Stoffel Vandoorne
In the last duel, Vandoorne continued his quest for pole. Against Brazilian Di Grassi, the closest clash in qualifying ended better for Mercedes: 1min09s515 against 1min09s559.
Final:
- Stoffel Vandoorne vs. Nick Cassidy
In the last qualifying duel, Cassidy demonstrated all his knowledge of the track in New York to beat one of the best drivers of the season and secure his first pole position of 2022. The Envision driver clocked 1min08s980, while his Mercedes competitor clocked 1min08s988 to take second place by just 0s008.
