Edoardo Mortara has secured back-to-back pole positions in Jeddah, after the Mahindra driver delivered consistent lap times throughout the duel stages of qualifying.
Mortara set a 1:15.116 to beat Jake Dennis, who could only manage a 1:15.153, leaving the Season Nine World Champion 0.037s short of pole.
Dennis had looked like the man to beat earlier in the session, having set the fastest lap of the semi-finals with a blistering 1:15.060, but he was unable to replicate that pace in the Final as Mortara kept his consistency throughout qualifying.
Starting third will be Antonio Félix da Costa for Jaguar. The Portuguese driver was knocked out by Dennis in the semi-final stage, but still posted a strong 1:15.391, which was enough to edge reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland, who set a 1:15.415 and will line up fourth.
Jean-Éric Vergne was the fastest loser in the quarter-final stage and will start from fifth, while Maximilian Günther, who reached the Final yesterday, could only qualify sixth this time around.
Veteran Sébastien Buemi will start in seventh, with Nick Cassidy forced to settle for eighth after making an error on his fastest lap.
Dan Ticktum impressed once again and will start ninth for Cupra Kiro, while Zane Maloney will line up tenth for Lola — their best qualifying result of the season.
Yesterday’s race winner, Pascal Wehrlein, could only qualify 11th, ahead of Felipe Drugovich in 12th. Mitch Evans will start 13th, with Pepe Martí in 14th.
Further back, Norman Nato qualified 15th with Nico Müller in 16th, while Taylor Barnard starts 17th, ahead of Joel Eriksson and Lucas di Grassi.
At the rear of the field, Nyck de Vries will start 20th after receiving a massive 60-place grid penalty for changing his MGU and MGC. He will also be required to serve a 10-second stop-and-go penalty during the race, making his challenge a difficult one from the outset.
