Formula E

Da Costa dominates qualifying again in Berlin

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Credit: Formula E

Antonio Felix da Costa backed up his brilliant performance yesterday to secure another pole position in Berlin and extend his championship lead even further with it.

The DS Techeetah driver once again might light work of having to go out in the first group on a dirty track and put in the second fastest time of the first section of qualifying, only beaten by Sebastien Buemi who put in a time that was just twelve thousandths of a second faster.

Given his domination in qualifying and the race yesterday it was almost inevitable the Portuguese driver would go out and grab pole in the top-six shootout and he duly delivered, beating Buemi this time by over four tenths.

Buemi though was pleased with his front row slot, saying that he had no idea why Da Costa was so fast but that he was simply out of reach.

Behind the front two Alex Lynn but in a stellar performance in just his second race for Mahindra Racing, doing his chances of securing a permanent drive with the team no harm by qualifying third.

Robin Frijns bounced back from his crash in the race yesterday to qualify fourth for Envision Virgin Racing and Nyck de Vries qualified fifth in his Mercedes-Benz EQ.

Lucas di Grassi made it into the top six shootout but complained about the balance of his car as he had a scrappy lap and will line up in sixth.

Oliver Rowland just missed out on the super pole shootout in seventh place, and after plummeting out of the points towards the end of yesterday’s race Jean-Eric Vergne could only manage eighth on the grid today.

Sam Bird faces a battle again to repeat his podium performance as he lines up in ninth, but he was pleased with his effort having had to go out in the first qualifying group thanks to his improved championship position.

Yesterday’s other podium finisher Andre Lotterer only lies up in twelfth as he was half a second off Buemi’s pace in the first section of qualifying, and Stoffel Vandoorne is in thirteenth behind him.

It was a terrible session for Panasonic Jaguar Racing though, with Da Costa’s main title challenger Mitch Evans only managing to go seventeenth fastest, and after receiving a 60-place grid penalty yesterday James Calado had another disappointing session as he made a mistake on his hot lap and could only manage twenty-third on the grid.

And Daniel Abt’s struggles with his new NIO 333 team continued as he ended up lapping six-tenths slower than team-mate Oliver Turvey and will start on the second last row of the grid in twenty-second.

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Formula E writer for TCF since 2015-16 and fascinated by all things electric.
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