Jake Dennis takes pole, beating Edoardo Mortara around the Tokyo street circuit. Antonio Felix Da Costa lines up third, beside Nico Müller, who crashed during the semi-finals. Will the Porsche team be able to get that car ready in time for the Tokyo E-Prix later today?
Group A
First up in qualifying was Group A. This consisted of Rowland, Nato, Di Grassi, Dennis, Müller, Cassidy, Eriksson, Wehrlein and Barnard. Felipe Drugovich was set to be a part of this opening group, but after suffering a big crash in FP2, he was unable to participate.
Oliver Rowland was struggling with his tyre temperatures throughout the session, causing many mistakes from the Nissan driver. He reported over the radio multiple times about how unhappy he was.
The Andretti driver Dennis set an extremely strong lap time early on of 1:13.719, which was untouchable for the rest of Group A. He topped the group, followed by Nico Müller, Nick Cassidy and Taylor Barnard. Title contender Pascal Wehrlein narrowly missed out, resulting in disappointment for him and the team; he will line up P9. Also out of Group A were Norman Nato, Joel Eriksson, Oliver Rowland and Lucas Di Grassi.
Group B
Group B contained the two Cupra Kiro drivers, Dan Ticktum and Pepe Marti, along with Maloney, Evans, Mortara, De Vries, Da Costa, Buemi, Günther and Vergne.
The session didn’t go well for the other title contender, Mitch Evans, either. The Jaguar Racing driver struggled with grip a lot, triggering a hair-raising moment as he got close to the wall. He will start the Tokyo E-Prix from P16, with a lot of work to do.
Da Costa also suffered a mishap as he went straight on into the runoff at Turn 10 and 11, which proved to be a tricky corner sequence for many. An impeding incident occurred between Jean-Eric Vergne and Zane Maloney that will be investigated after qualifying, so keep an eye out to see how that affects the starting grid.
Through to the duels in this group were Da Costa, who topped the session, then Mortara, Vergne and Ticktum. This meant that Günther, De Vries, Buemi, Evans, Marti and Maloney did not progress any further.
Quarter-Finals
Cassidy vs Müller
Cassidy started well in sector 1 before Müller pulled it back, coming across the line three tenths up on Cassidy and through to the Semi-Finals.
Barnard vs. Dennis
The closest contest in the Quarter-Finals happened when these two Brits went head-to-head. But it was the experienced Dennis who squeezed out seven hundredths more pace to move him through to the semi-finals.
Vergne vs. Mortara
Mortara dominated on the street circuit in this battle, growing a four-tenth gap to Vergne, whose qualifying session ended here.
Ticktum vs. Da Costa
The last of the quarter-final duels was Ticktum vs. Da Costa. Though only one tenth was in it, it was the Jaguar driver who moved through into the next knockout stages.
Semi-Finals
Müller vs. Dennis
Nico Müller started the lap very shakily with understeer into Turn 4, losing him time. Aware of how much he now needed to make up, the Porsche driver pushed hard into Turns 10 and 11, carrying way too much speed. His rear left wheel clipped the outside of 11, sending him hurtling towards the barriers. Müller was frustrated but okay; the car, on the other hand, was not. This brought out the Red Flag to remove his car and fix the TecPro barriers. Dennis was sent through to the Finals.
Da Costa vs. Mortara
After a slightly delayed start to this duel, it was Mortara who set the faster lap, beating Da Costa by only 0.074 hundredths.
Final
Going into the finals, it was Mahindra Racing’s Edoardo Mortara versus Andretti’s Jake Dennis. This final produced the closest margin during this entire qualifying session. In sector 1, it was Mortara who seemed to have better handling of the car, creating a fairly hefty gap to Dennis. But in sectors 2 and 3, Jake Dennis showed why he is a world champion driver, pulling it back to take pole for the Tokyo E-Prix with just 0.052 hundredths to spare. It was revealed Mortara had made a mistake into Turn 15, which cost him a chunk of time.
So, heading into today’s night race in Tokyo, many questions need to be answered. Will the cars of Felipe Drugovich and Nico Müller be ready? Can Jake Dennis convert his pole to a win? And will the title contenders, Wehrlein and Evans, be able to salvage some points from a disappointing qualifying?