Jean-Eric Vergne secured his third pole position of the season and set a new outright Formula E record ahead of the Portland E-Prix, narrowly beating Antonio Felix da Costa by just 0.025 seconds.
The DS Penske driver clocked a 1m08.779s, being slightly faster in the first and third sectors at the Portland International Raceway. This achievement marked his 17th Formula E pole, setting a new record.
Vergne progressed to the final round by edging out Envision’s Robin Frijns, with the two podium finishers from Saturday’s race separated by 0.219 seconds. McLaren’s Sam Bird was just over a tenth behind da Costa, who was aiming for his third consecutive victory later that day.
Despite Pascal Wehrlein being only 24 points behind Nick Cassidy in the championship standings, there were no team orders when the Porsche teammates faced each other in the quarter-finals.
Da Costa comfortably advanced by 0.373 seconds over Wehrlein with a 1m08.750s, the fastest qualifying time, preventing the German from contending for the three points awarded for pole.
Cassidy failed to reach the semi-finals, falling 0.141 seconds short in his duel with Vergne, despite being slightly quicker in the opening sector. McLaren’s Jake Hughes and Frijns were separated by just 0.014 seconds, with Frijns coming out on top, while Bird finished nearly two-tenths faster than Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries.
Saturday’s polesitter and provisional race winner Mitch Evans, before a five-second penalty was applied, failed to advance from the opening qualifying group, missing out by just over half a tenth.
Evans finished sixth behind Maserati MSG’s Jehan Daruvala, who narrowly missed the cut by only 0.003 seconds. Frijns led the group, followed by Vergne, Cassidy, and Hughes.
Nico Muller (Abt), Dan Ticktum (ERT), Lucas di Grassi (Abt), and the second Maserati MSG of Maximilian Guenther were also eliminated, with just 0.340 seconds separating 10 drivers.
Envision’s Sebastien Buemi was also eliminated in eighth before his fastest laps were disqualified due to a technical infraction.
Saturday’s race winner da Costa topped the second group with a 1m09.726s, joined by Bird, de Vries, and teammate Wehrlein.
Ahead of Andretti’s home race, reigning champion Jake Dennis could only manage ninth after losing control at Turn 12 and having a high-speed spin on his final attempt.
His teammate Norman Nato had earlier gone off at Turn 11 and finished no better at the chequered flag, placing 10th. Shortly after Nato’s incident, he was joined off-track by Nissan’s Caio Collet, with Oliver Rowland’s stand-in finishing the session last and under investigation for rejoining in the path of Edoardo Mortara.
Mahindra driver Mortara, who achieved his best result of the season with fourth in yesterday’s race, was also eliminated in sixth, just a fraction behind DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne, who missed the cut by 0.004 seconds.
