FORMULA E
Copyright © Aemilia Cumberland - Jean Eric Vergne for DS Penske at the London E-Prix
 Credit: Simon Galloway In an all-German final, in the first ever Formula E qualifying in Jeddah, Maximilian Gunther would take pole position on Friday in Saudi Arabia. Gunther would beat reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein in an intense and dramatic qualifying session, to prevent Wehrlein picking up what would have been three consecutive pole positions for Porsche. Gunther and Wehrlein both got to the final by beating British drivers as young McLaren star Taylor Barnard and Mexico City E-Prix race winner Oliver Rowland were eliminated in the semi final stage of the 1v1 duels. There would be a big shock in the group stage section of the qualifying session as the championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa would be eliminated and would finish seventh in his group. How qualifying unfolded for the Jeddah E-Prix (round 3)It was time for qualifying for the third round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, for the first ever Formula E race in Jeddah, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit more specifically. It had been an entertaining weekend already with two practice sessions in the normal weekend formalities in addition to the rookie free practice which is aiming to provide an opportunity and a pathway to young drivers hoping to compete in an FIA World Championship. As is normal with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the qualifying format is a knockout and duels based session. The 22 drivers would be split into two groups of 11. The top four of each group would progress through to the 1v1 duels. These eight drivers would form four quarter finals, with each driver competing in one quarter final each. The winner of each quarter final would progress through to a semi final and then the winner of their semi finals would progress into a 1v1 final. The driver with the quickest time in the final would take the pole position for the round three Jeddah E-Prix. The Groups would be listed as Group A and Group B and the following drivers would compete in each. Group A:
Group B:
Group AGroup A would be up first in the first ever Jeddah E-Prix qualifying with the first 11 drivers having 12 minutes to fight for a top four space which would equivalently see them go through to the quarter finals. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the cars would pile out of the pit lane and onto the circuit for the first ever qualifying around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Soon enough the drivers would begin to lay down their first flying laps and it would be a good start to the session for NEOM McLaren as their drivers would go first and second. The young Taylor Barnard would be quickest ahead of teammate Sam Bird with seven minutes remaining. Drivers would be looking to find time, which included the two Jaguars as their first powerful lap times would be excellent. Both would elevate themselves into the provisional top four. Nick Cassidy would go quickest while Evans would go third fastest. Evans would drop to fourth as Antonio Felix Da Costa leapt above him as the track was starting to ramp up and all the drivers were starting to find big improvements out in the Saudi Arabian sunshine. Barnard would return to the top of the time sheets with a 1:17.505. His NEOM McLaren teammate Sam Bird would also jump back into the top four. Bird would be bumped out of the four due to improvements from Evans and the DS Penske of Maximilian Gunther. Soon enough the 12 minutes would be up and the chequered flag would be flying with only drivers on flying laps that could improve and get themselves into the top four. Cassidy would improve to fourth but would be right on the fringes with drivers elsewhere on circuit improving. Barnard would finish the session top after an additional improvement while Gunther, Evans and Nyck De Vries would join him in the top four and progressed to the quarter finals. The big shock though would be that championship leader Da Costa would be eliminated. Da Costa would have a scruffy final lap and would end up finishing only seventh in the group and that would be a bitterly disappointing qualifying for the championship leader and would have work to do in the day's later E-Prix. Group BOnce Group A had concluded it would be time for the other 11 drivers to compete in Group B for a place in the top four and an opportunity to compete for pole position in the 1v1 knockout duels. The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane signalling the start of the 12 minutes of Group B with the drivers entering the circuit almost immediately from the pit lane. In the first benchmark lap times, Stoffel Vandoorne would be the driver to go provisionally fastest for Maserati with he and his teammate having a great start to Group B as Hughes would go provisionally third. The pair would be split by the Lola Yamaha of Zane Maloney. There would be a sign of the track constantly improving as there would be the two Brits of Jake Dennis and Oliver Rowland that would leap up and into the top two positions with Dennis in his Andretti leading the way out of them all. The Maserati cars were certainly looking a force to be reckoned with once again as both improved their times again but all the drivers were finding time out on circuit so the session was set to be close. With five minutes remaining, a stunning lap time from Rowland would see him just about get ahead of reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein of Porsche. Rowland would put his Nissan 0.045 clear of Wehrlein with a 1:17.650. The track was continuing to ramp up as Jake Hughes who would go top of the time sheets but the Maserati driver would soon be bumped to second and then third by first Dan Ticktum and then Pascal Wehrlein, who would go to the top. Soon enough the chequered flag would be out with all drivers looking to make improvements in order to get themselves through to the duels to join Taylor Barnard, Maximilian Gunther, Mitch Evans and Nyck De Vries. A stunning lap from Oliver Rowland would see him massively improve to go fastest where in the end three British drivers would make it through to the duels. Jake Hughes in the Maserati and Dan Ticktum in the Cupra Kiro would join their fellow Brit in going through. The three Brits would be joined by reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein. Edoardo Mortara was unable to get a lap in and was not classified due to a suspected issue. Knockout duels 1v1Following an entertaining group stage in the Formula E qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, it would be time for the 1v1 duels. The eight drivers would be set to face off against one another in a one-time lap 1v1 battle as drivers would be eliminated stage by stage until two driver will remain. The two drivers who will progress through their quarter final and semi final would go head-to-head for the honour of pole positions and the extra championship points. First up would be the quarter finals, which would line up as follows:
First up in the quarter final stages would be the Dutch Mahindra driver Nyck De Vries who would be going up against the DS Penske German Maximilian Gunther. De Vries would be the driver heading out first to set his one and only lap time. De Vries would cross the line but would ultimately not have enough to progress to the semi final as Gunther would eliminate him with an impressive lap time from the German. In a dominant performance for the DS Penske driver he would better De Vries by over seven tenths of second. Gunther would await one of Mitch Evans or Taylor Barnard who would be joining him in the first semi final. Experience vs youth in the second quarter final in the round three qualifying duels. A 1:15.574 would be the benchmark time for Barnard to beat as Mitch Evans would set his lap first and in an incredibly close tussle for a spot in the semi finals, Evans would be beaten. Barnard in his first full season of Formula E would be through to the semi finals as he beat Evans by just 14 one thousandths of a second. Next up in the quarter finals would be the Porsche of reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein who would go up against the British talent Jake Hughes of Maserati. This would be a battle for the first space in the second semi final of the knockout duels for the round three Jeddah E-Prix. Wehrlein would set his lap time first with a 1:15.380 but following a mistake for Hughes that cost him a significant amount of time. Therefore, Wehrlein would progress through to the semi finals with a distance of almost a second in lap times. The final quarter final would be an all-British affair as Dan Ticktum would go up against his fellow countryman Oliver Rowland, who won last time out in Mexico City. It would be Ticktum who would go first in setting his lap time. Ticktum would lay down a time of 1:15.754 but it would not be enough to get through into the second semi final as Rowland would dispatch of him by four tenths of a second and would see himself comfortably through to the semi final up against Pascal Wehrlein. Soon enough it would be time for the semi finals, which would line up as follows:
The first semi final would be between the Penske of Gunther and the NEOM McLaren of Barnard with a place in the final up for grabs for each driver, for the first time in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Barnard would be the driver to head out first and he would be the first driver to lay down his only lap time in this one-shot 1v1 semi final. Gunther would follow in a similar way to how he ran in the quarter final. In an intense squabble with both drivers putting in great efforts but ultimately Barnard would fall to the pace of the DS Penske of Gunther who would dispatch of the Brit by almost two tenths of a second. Gunther would await one of Pascal Wehrlein or Oliver Rowland in the duels final to fight for pole position for the first ever E-Prix at Jeddah. In a fascinating battle between two highly talented drives, Wehrlein would have a fantastic final sector to narrowly beat Rowland in a great comeback by the reigning Formula E Champion. Therefore, it would be an all-German final between Gunther and Wehrlein. Maximilian Gunther vs Pascal Wehrlein in the duels final for round three of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship would be set to be exciting. It would be DS Penske vs Porsche in a one-lap shootout for pole position. Unlike the quarter final and semi final rounds Gunther would be the driver to set the lap time first as the final duel would get underway in the final showdown for pole position. If Gunther would take pole position, he would be preventing Wehrlein taking a third successive pole position. In an intense and closely fought battle throughout the lap of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit but it would be no three consecutive pole positions for Pascal Wehrlein as Gunther would take pole position by in the end three tenths of a secon. A mistake in the latter part of the lap for Wehrlein would see him end a distance off the DS Penske of Gunther who would take pole position for the first time in the 2024/25 season. It would also be the second consecutive pole position in Saudi Arabia for DS Penske as Jean-Eric Vergne grabbed pole in Diriyah back in the 2023/24 campaign. This would mean that Gunther would take pole position for the first ever Jeddah E-Prix and round three of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in a great opportunity to take his first victory for DS Penske. 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 3 - Jeddah E-Prix qualifying result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal
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