Just Electric

Da Costa takes dominant pole position in Berlin

Race 1 winner Antonio Felix da Costa became today’s pole man with the Portuguese man once again topping the qualifying standings and will aim to clinch back-to-back victories. 

DS Techeetah’s da Costa, who landed in Berlin leading the championship, was able to extend his lead in Race 1, dominating from lights to flag. All eyes were on him and whether he would be able to repeat the feat both in qualifying and the race ahead of the second day of racing on Berliner soil. 

Mercedes EQ Formula E’s Stoffel Vandoorne was the first Group 1 driver to go out on track. As all drivers followed suit, it was da Costa who set the fastest time of his group, almost a second ahead, with a time of 1m06.791. Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and Maximilian Guenther came second and third, respectively; with Vandoorne, Alexander Sims, and Mitch Evans completing the times. 

Da Costa equalled Sims’ record of three consecutive pole positions in Formula E, although championship leader da Costa is the first driver to do it in one season: Sims took his three poles at the end of Season 5 and start of Season 6.

As Group 2 drivers started setting their own times, Nyck de Vries quickly climbed up to P2, followed by Lucas di Grassi and reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne. But seconds afterwards, it would be Buemi who would set a fastest time moving up to P1 displacing da Costa. Edoardo Mortara would position himself in P7 and Lotterer in P9. 

Robin Frijns was the Group 3 driver to climb up the highest on the standings, setting a time that allowed him to reach P3. Oliver Rowland was able to enter the Top 10 as well. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Felope Massa, Daniel Abt, and James Calado set times that left them out of the Top 10. 

Alex Lynn, on his Formula E comeback, set a time of 1m06.873, positioning himself in P3 and entering Super Pole. The other Group 4 drivers could not match Lynn’s pace, qualifying outside of the Top 10. 

Di Grassi was the first one to complete his Super Pole lap. The Season 3 champion marked a time of 1m07.292. Up next came de Vries’ lap, who passed di Grassi’s time setting a lap of 1m06.921. 

Frijns could not match de Vries’ time, finishing his lap in P2 behind the Dutchman. Alex Lynn topped the standings overpassing the Mercedes driver, setting a lap time of 1m06.919. 

Buemi and da Costa were the last two drivers to do their Super Pole lap. The Portuguese climbed up to P1 with a 0.477 seconds gap to Lynn’s lap time. The Swiss, who has a winning experience in the Tempelhof track, could not match da Costa’s time, ultimately finishing in P2. 

After a strong dominance in yesterday’s event, da Costa would score yet another pole position ahead of Race 2, aiming to expand his winning ways. 

Andrea Perilli

Privacy Policy

Click here to read our Privacy Policy.

%d bloggers like this: