An extraordinary performance by the English rookie, who becomes the youngest pole-sitter in Formula E history. Rowland defeated in the final.
20 years and 259 days old, the youngest pole-sitter in Formula E history: Taylor Barnard takes pole position in qualifying for the second Jeddah E-Prix, ahead of the race set to start at 6 PM Italian time (GMT+1).
The young English driver from NEOM McLaren delivered a perfect qualifying session, being the fastest throughout the entire session, from the group stage to the final.
Barnard defeated championship leader Oliver Rowland in the final, as Rowland made a mistake exiting the penultimate chicane in a desperate attempt to recover the one and a half tenths separating him from the pole-sitter.
All-Maserati second row, with Stoffel Vandoorne ahead of Jake Hughes. A strong performance from the Monegasque team, highly competitive on this track, following a double points finish in Race 1, with the English driver in fifth and the Belgian driver in tenth.
Antonio Felix Da Costa’s Porsche will start from fifth position, after losing the championship lead to Oliver Rowland just yesterday. The Portuguese driver was eliminated in the quarter-finals by a flying Taylor Barnard, who delivered an almost perfect middle sector.
Next to him is Edoardo Mortara’s Mahindra, who will be aiming for very strong positions after his impressive recovery in Race 1, where he gained 15 positions after starting from the back.
Starting from seventh position is yesterday’s winner Maximilian Günther, who was defeated in the rematch with Oliver Rowland after the decisive pass at the final chicane in yesterday’s race. Rounding out the top 8 is the second NEOM McLaren of Sam Bird: a solid qualifying performance from the experienced English driver, although he will once again start behind his rookie teammate, Taylor Barnard.
Qualifying Jeddah E-Prix 2 : the group stage.
Rounding out the top ten are Nyck de Vries’ Mahindra, delivering another solid performance after his excellent race yesterday, finishing just outside the podium, and Dan Ticktum, who came close to reaching the quarter-finals of the duels after securing eighth place in yesterday’s qualifying.
Behind them will be Norman Nato and the other Cupra KIRO of David Beckmann, showcasing the strong competitiveness of the new American team. This is despite not being equipped with the new Porsche powertrain, but rather the one used by the German team in the 2022-2024 period, updated to the GEN 3 Evo specifications.
The reigning world champion, Pascal Wehrlein, is facing difficulties: after securing a front row position in yesterday’s qualifying, he failed to score points due to a puncture sustained in a collision with Mitch Evans’ Jaguar. Today’s race will also be challenging for the German Porsche driver, who will start from the seventh row in fourteenth position, alongside Jean-Eric Vergne.
The challenging start to the season continues for the Jaguar team: Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy will start from the eighth and ninth rows, respectively. Another tough race is expected for the defending champions after yesterday’s race, where Evans was forced into an additional pit stop to replace the front wing, and Cassidy could only manage an eleventh-place finish after starting from the back.
Jake Dennis will start even further back, from twentieth position, continuing his unlucky streak after yesterday’s retirement due to a battery issue in the final stages of the race while he was firmly in the top ten. His teammate Nico Müller is in even more trouble, starting from twenty-second and last position.
PHOTO: ABB FIA Formula E, Nismo.
