Hughes takes pole after both final times deleted

Jake Hughes takes pole position after a lap time deletion for Sacha Fenestraz in qualifying for the Monaco E-Prix. 

The McLaren driver had his own time deleted after a mistake forced him to cut the chicane during his lap in the final duel. However, Fenestraz was then found to have overused during his flying lap, and the Nissan driver’s time was also deleted. 

Despite Fenestraz being fastest during the semi-finals, Hughes was awarded pole position his second in the championship. 

Group Stages

Mitch Evans set the pace early in the first qualifying group, just ahead of the DS Penske duo of Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne. 

Lap times would tumble in the second half of the session, though, with Norman Nato jumping up to P1 ahead of Fenestraz and Dan Ticktum. 

Nato then improved again, extending his gap to team-mate Fenestraz in second, as Ticktum and Evans also progressed. 

In Group B, it was Maximilian Guenther who topped the times early, with Hughes second just ahead of Sette Camara and Cassidy.  

The times would remain static at the front of the order, though Nick Cassidy was able to jump up to fifth late on. 

A number of drivers, including Sette Camara and Sebastien Buemi, had lap times deleted due to a technical infringement, but it wasn’t enough to demote the NIO driver out of the top four.  

Duels 

Hughes’ journey to the finals started with a head-to-head with Edoardo Mortara. The McLaren driver went four tenths of a second quicker than Mortara and progressed through to the semi-finals, where he faced Mortara’s team-mate Maximilian Guenther. 

Guenther had initially been knocked out in the quarter finals, having lapped slower than NIO’s Sergio Sette Camara. However, Sette Camara’s flying lap was deleted due to a qualifying procedure infringement, as he stopped at the wrong traffic light in the pit lane. Guenther then progressed to the semi finals. 

Hughes this time went more than half a second quicker than Guenther, breaking into the 1m28s with a time of 1m28.942s. 

Meanwhile, Fenestraz set the fastest time of the quarter finals as he beat Dan Ticktum with a time of 1m29.031s. He then went up against team-mate Norman Nato and also lapped within the 1m28s. He ended the semi-finals with a time of 1,28.773s. 

Hughes made a few small mistakes on his final lap before running over the chicane, which resulted in his time being removed. Fenestraz managed a 1m29.131s, but it would be for nought. 

The Nissan driver will still line up on the front row of the grid, just ahead of team-mate Nato. 

Guenther takes fourth ahead of Ticktum and Mitch Evans, who was beaten by Nato in the quarter finals. 

Mortara and Sette Camara line up seventh and eighth, while Nick Cassidy and Andre Lotterer complete the top 10. Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein will line-up 12th.