Strong throughout qualifying, Britain's Jake Dennis showed he runs at home and beat Formula E leader Stoffel Vandoorne to take his first pole of the season
Formula E returned to a modified ExCel Arena in London for the penultimate round of the season this weekend. And with all the spotlight on the Formula E title contenders, the home grown driver came in a close second and came out on top in the end: Andretti's British driver Jake Dennis took the team's first pole position this season - his second in the category - by beating leader Stoffel Vandoorne in the final.
For the first time in Formula E, the two Brazilians finished their groups in the qualifying zone for the knockout stage: Sérgio Sette Câmara and Lucas Di Grassi had managed to pass to the quarterfinals with second and fourth best times, respectively, in Group A, but the Venturi driver ended up punished for hindering Mitch Evans' lap, had his times deleted and lost his position to Maximilian Günther - he will start last.
The session was a dream for Stoffel Vandoorne, however, as he was the only one of the Formula E title contenders to qualify for the knockout round. Meanwhile, Mitch Evans, Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Èric Vergne did not make it past the first qualifying round and will have to seek a recovery in the first race of the weekend.
The first race of the Formula E eP in London will start at 11:00 am (EST), with live broadcasting on TV Cultura and SporTV 3.
Check out the standings for race 1 in London:
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Group A
The first group opened the London qualifying with Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara, who had already drawn attention the day before with first place in TL1. The Dragon driver was quickly overtaken by other rivals soon after, but managed to get a place in the top four after the end of the first round of stops, in second place.
Besides the Brazilian, Nick Cassidy set the best time before the drivers went out for their final laps, with 1min14s246. Stoffel Vandoorne and Mitch Evans, who are still fighting for the title, completed the top four.
All the cars returned to the garages after the first few laps, as usual, and left the pit-lane with just three minutes to go. With the last laps out, Stoffel Vandoorne took the lead with 1min13s796, Sergio Sette Câmara secured second place with 1min14s023, Cassidy was third with 1min14s123, while Lucas Di Grassi closed in fourth place with 1min14s234.
However, the Brazilian was punished after the end of Group B for disturbing Evans' lap - he was even caught 'breaking everything' in the Venturi garage, completely angry with the decision -, and Maximilian Gunther inherited the fourth place. With the loss of lap times, Di Grassi finished in last place and will leave the bottom of the grid.
With this, the eliminated drivers were in the following order: Robin Frijns, Sam Bird, Mitch Evans, Alexander Sims, Pascal Wehrlein, Oliver Turvey and Di Grassi.
Group B
Group B also started with a Dragon car being the first to record a lap, this time with Antonio Giovinazzi at the wheel. The Italian driver opened the session with a lap of 1min14s816, a time quickly overtaken by his rivals - who pushed him down to ninth place after the first few attempts.
Jake Dennis took the lead after 1:14:073 with Andretti, and led a group that also included Nyck de Vries in second, Oliver Askew in third, and Andre Lotterer in fourth. Title contenders Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Èric Vergne returned to the pits fifth and sixth, respectively, before attempting their final laps.
At the end of Group B, there were few changes in the top four: Dennis remained first, De Vries took second place, Askew finished third, and Lotterer was fourth. Mortara and Vergne were eliminated - they finished fifth and seventh, respectively - and the only title contender to advance to the knockout stage was Vandoorne.
The eliminations were, in the following order: Mortara, Da Costa, Vergne, Sebastien Buemi, Oliver Rowland, Giovinazzi, and Dan Ticktum.
Quarterfinals
André Lotterer vs. Stoffel Vandoorne
In the first duel of the day, no surprises: Vandoorne confirmed his favoritism and scored 1min13s528, while Lotterer did not pass 1min13s917 and was eliminated.
Oliver Askew vs. Sérgio Sette Câmara
In the second duel, Brazil was the winner: Sergio Sette Câmara kept up the good phase demonstrated at the weekend and dispatched the NIO driver with 1min13s330 - even faster than Vandoorne's time in the previous confrontation. Askew, on the other hand, did not go faster than 1min13s688.
Nick Cassidy vs. Nyck de Vries
After the Brazilian's qualifying, the second Mercedes was guaranteed a place in the semifinals: Nyck de Vries set a 1min13s457 and comfortably overtook Cassidy by a good margin - the New Zealander, who won both qualifying races at the last round in New York, posted a 1min13s852.
Maximilian Günther vs. Jake Dennis
And in the duel that closed the quarterfinals, the leader of Group B passed without scares: Jake Dennis closed his lap with 1min13s225, the only one to beat Sette Câmara's time, while Günther didn't pass 1min13s780 and was left by the way.
Semifinals
Sérgio Sette Câmara vs. Stoffel Vandoorne
In the duel between the championship leader and one of the only two drivers to have no points this season - Dragon is the only team to have not scored - the better for Vandoorne: the Mercedes Belgian clocked 1min13s131 to set the best time of the day and left Sette Câmara behind - even with a good lap from the Brazilian, who posted 1min13s474.
Nyck de Vries vs. Jake Dennis
Jake Dennis had a good pace throughout the session, but really showed all his talent in London in the semifinal: he set the best time in qualifying, with 1min13s005, and took Andretti to the final eliminating De Vries - who had a fast lap of 1min13s314, but not enough to beat the Briton.
Final
Stoffel Vandoorne vs. Jake Dennis
Jake Dennis confirmed his superiority in the British circuit and set a lap time of 1min13s161, securing Andretti's first pole position of the year. Vandoorne did well, with 1min13s298, but it was not enough to beat the home driver.