Mexico City E-Prix: Wehrlein beats team-mate da Costa…

Reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein claimed back-to-back pole positions having bested team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa in qualifying for the Mexico City E-Prix as Porsche dominated.

The German entered the second round of the season with a new chassis after his spectacular shunt in the Sao Paulo season-opener, but it didn’t prevent him from becoming the first driver to take pole position four times at the same venue.

Da Costa was initially faster in the opening sector by less than a tenth but fell away in the second sector as he trailed his team-mate by 0.324s.

Despite a small slide through the final turn for Wehrlein, he was able to take his eighth career Formula E pole position by 0.125s with a 1m10.984s, as da Costa reported a problem with his car over the radio.

Da Costa set the fastest lap throughout the entirety of qualifying in the semi-final stages with a 1m10.739s, leaving him 0.184s clear of Jean-Eric Vergne.

Wehrlein made it through to his second qualifying final in a row after besting Nissan’s Oliver Rowland in the semi-final, the Briton fractionally ahead at the end of the second sector before losing two tenths in the final segment.

Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche Formula E Team (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

Championship leader and Sao Paulo winner Mitch Evans dropped out in the quarter-final duel stage, the Jaguar driver finishing 0.280s behind Rowland as the Briton posted a 1m11.058s courtesy of the 350kw all-wheel-drive mode.

Wehrlein was never headed in his duel with Edoardo Mortara after the Mahindra driver ran deep into Turn 1 and finished nearly one second adrift, as Andretti’s Jake Dennis finished nearly half a second behind da Costa.

In an all-DS Penske affair, Vergne bested Maximilian Guenther by over three tenths having posted a faster time in the opening two sectors.

With the track still damp for the opening qualifying group, the final laps proved decisive as Wehrlein headed Rowland, Envision’s Sebastien Buemi and Evans.

But Buemi was stripped of his best times due to a throttle pedal map infraction, promoting Mortara into the duels having initially missed the cut by just over two tenths after he was held up by Lucas di Grassi through the final corner.

The incident was placed under investigation before no further action was taken as di Grassi was classified ninth, with Lola-Yamaha Abt team-mate Zane Maloney promoted to fifth ahead of Andretti’s Nico Muller.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing (Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images)

Cupra Kiro’s David Beckmann was classified seventh having run deep into Turn 1 during the session, ahead of Maserati MSG’s Stoffel Vandoorne and McLaren’s Taylor Barnard, who finished 4.5s off Wehrlein’s 1m14.610s.

Guenther topped the second session with a 1m13.352s as conditions improved and headed Dennis, Nick Cassidy and da Costa.

The second DS Penske of Vergne missed the cut by just 0.037s, but like Mortara, the Frenchman progressed after Cassidy was stripped of his fastest lap for a throttle pedal map infraction.

The second Envision of Robin Frijns also suffered a similar fate having initially finished ahead of Sam Bird, the McLaren driver left frustrated as he was blocked through the final turn on his last attempt by Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries.

The incident was placed under investigation and the Dutchman was handed a three-place grid penalty and a penalty point.

Maserati MSG’s Jake Hughes, who was also handed the same punishment as de Vries for impeding Frijns, Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum and Nissan’s Norman Nato completed the provisional classification.

Mexico City E-Prix - Qualifying results


Cla	Driver	#	Time	km/h
1	P. Wehrlein Porsche Team	1	1'10.984	133.280
2	A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team	13	+0.125 1'11.109	133.046
3	J. Vergne DS Penske	25	1'10.923	133.395
4	O. Rowland Nissan e.dams	23	+0.238 1'11.222	132.835
5	M. Evans Jaguar Racing	9	+0.354 1'11.338	132.619
6	M. Gunther DS Penske	7	+0.548 1'11.532	132.259
7	J. Dennis Andretti Formula E	27	+0.756 1'11.740	131.876
8	E. Mortara Mahindra Racing	48	+1.608 1'12.592	130.328
9	Z. Maloney LOLA YAMAHA ABT FORMULA E TEAM	22	+4.452 1'15.436	125.414
10	R. Frijns Envision Racing	4	+2.680 1'13.664	128.431
11	N. Müller Andretti Formula E	51	+4.621 1'15.605	125.134
12	S. Bird McLaren	8	+2.749 1'13.733	128.311
13	D. Beckmann Cupra Kiro	3	+5.056 1'16.040	124.418
14	N. de Vries Mahindra Racing	21	+3.077 1'14.061	127.743
15	S. Vandoorne Maserati Racing	2	+5.256 1'16.240	124.092
16	J. Hughes Maserati Racing	55	+3.150 1'14.134	127.617
17	L. di Grassi LOLA YAMAHA ABT FORMULA E TEAM	11	+7.067 1'18.051	121.213
18	D. Ticktum Cupra Kiro	33	+3.304 1'14.288	127.353
19	T. Barnard McLaren	5	+8.207 1'19.191	119.468
20	N. Nato Nissan e.dams	17	+3.405 1'14.389	127.180
21	S. Buemi Envision Racing	16
22	N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing	37
View full results