Nico Müller secured his first pole position in Miami, beating rookie Felipe Drugovich in an enthralling qualifying session in the United States.
Müller, who was quick throughout free practice, had to overcome Norman Nato and Nyck de Vries before defeating Drugovich in the final. The Swiss driver was only fourth fastest in Group A but went on to secure pole position after setting a 55.419.
Drugovich set the quickest time of the day with a 55.393 in the semi-final to progress into the final, but was unable to repeat that lap when it mattered most. He beat António Félix da Costa in the semi-final.
Da Costa will start third for Jaguar, ahead of Nyck de Vries in the Mahindra, who will line up fourth.
Lining up on the third row of the grid will be Taylor Barnard, who looked the favourite for pole position but lost his quarter-final duel to Drugovich by just one thousandth of a second. Joel Eriksson will start alongside him in his Envision, in what was his first experience of the duel format.
Championship leader Nick Cassidy will start seventh, ahead of Norman Nato. Nato made an error on his qualifying lap by running wide at the final corner in his duel with Müller, which meant he was the slowest driver in the duels and will start eighth.
Mitch Evans will start ninth in the second Jaguar, ahead of Barnard’s teammate Maximilian Günther in the DS Penske.
Reigning champion Oliver Rowland will start 11th, ahead of rival Pascal Wehrlein in 12th.
Pepe Martí lines up 13th ahead of Zane Maloney. Jake Dennis slumped to 15th position in qualifying, ahead of Edoardo Mortara, who was impeded by Sébastien Buemi. Mortara attempted to pass the Season 2 champion at the final corner, but Buemi failed to move aside and made contact with the rear of Mortara’s car. Buemi was given a five-place grid penalty for the incident.
Buemi also received a three-place grid drop for impeding de Vries and will start the race from 20th.
Jean-Éric Vergne will line up 17th, ahead of Dan Ticktum and Lucas di Grassi.
