General
Second ePrix in Rome | Pole for Jake Dennis
- Ludo van Denderen
The second Rome ePrix this weekend promises to be an interesting battle between the championship contenders. The numbers one and two in the title race will start from the front row of the grid at 14:00, with Jake Dennis starting from pole. He was faster in the final qualifying session than Nick Cassidy, the championship leader. Starting from the second row later in the day will be Mitch Evans, who is number three in the fight for the Formula E title.
As for every race, qualifying started in two groups, from which the best four each go on to the duels. From the first group of 11, championship contenders Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy managed to advance, as did Sam Bird. The Briton was still tenth when the flag dropped, but still managed to squeeze out a top time with his Jaguar.
In the second group, Jake Dennis finished fastest. Pascal Wehrlein was again the big loser. The German Porsche driver was the championship leader for a long time, but dropped to fourth place after some poor results, 31 points behind Cassidy. So even during qualifying in Rome things did not work out for the former F1 driver.
Buemi misses corner
In the first duel between Cassidy and Dan Tickum, the former clocked up the fastest lap time of the weekend. The showdown between teammates Evans and Bird, jointly on the front row of the grid a day earlier, was a triumph for Evans, who won a Saturday's ePrix. The only Nissan - Fenestraz had to sit out qualifying due to technical problems - also advanced to the semi-finals. Norman Nato was a bit lucky that his opponent Buemi missed a corner, though. Dennis was the fourth and last to advance to the last four.
In a direct duel between the compatriots from New Zealand and, moreover, title contenders Evans and Cassidy in the semi-finals, the latter made a small mistake in turn seven. Nevertheless, he managed to advance to the final. There he met Dennis, who with his Avalanche Andretti, beat Nato. The intriguing final ended up being a triumph for Dennis, who, thanks to the three points awarded for the pole, neared Cassidy to within two points.