Nick Cassidy (Envision Virgin Racing) won his first Julius Baer Pole Position today, on a rain-soaked track in the city of Rome, ahead of the second race of the weekend. Cassidy will be alongside another rookie in the race, ROKIT Venturi Racing‘s Norman Nato, who was 0.332 seconds slower than him.
The New Zealander earned himself three championship points with that pole position, gaining him five places in the driver’s championship, with a very good position to win more points in today’s race. Cassidy had also topped the timing sheets in the free practice session earlier.
The rain made the track slippery, with most (if not all) drivers struggling with over- and understeer. As the qualifying groups went on track, it dried out slowly, providing group four with the best opportunity to get into the Superpole shootout: four of the drivers of group four made it into the final showdown, including pole position driver Cassidy.
Andre Lotterer (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E) qualified second in the group stage. He should have been in Superpole, but his lap was deleted due to overuse of power, dropping him down in twenty-second place. The three-time Le Mans winner was issued a five-second penalty in the race for the first lap collision with Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E) yesterday. This serves to complicate what is already a difficult weekend for him and the Porsche team.
Yesterday’s victor Jean-Eric Vergne was another victim of the Formula E qualifying system: he qualified twenty-first, more than five seconds off the lead. His team-mate Antonio Felix Da Costa only qualified sixteenth in the group qualifying stage, which will mean the DS Techeetah‘s will have to fight through the field to gain points in the race.
Sam Bird (Jaguar Racing), the current driver’s championship leader, will start the race in twelfth position, alongside his team-mate Mitch Evans. Second and third place in the championship drivers Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing) and Nyck de Vries (Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E), were also victims of Formula E’s qualifying system, will start towards the back of the grid: eighteenth and seventeenth respectively.
Jake Dennis (BMW i Andretti Motorsport) did not take part in the qualifying session due to a problem with his car.
Qualifying Result
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | 71 | Norman Nato | FRA | ROKIT Venturi Racing | 1:56.006 |
| 2 | 37 | Nick Cassidy | NZL | Envision Virgin Racing | +0.854 |
| 3 | 28 | Maximilian Gunther | GER | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | +2.268 |
| 4 | 29 | Alexander Sims | GBR | Mahindra Racing | +2.494 |
| 5 | 99 | Pascal Wehrlein | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | +2.771 |
| 6 | 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | +3.099 |
| 7 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | CHE | ROKIT Venturi Racing | +3.491 |
| 8 | 22 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Nissan e.DAMS | +3.506 |
| 9 | 6 | Nico Muller | CHE | Dragon/Penske Autosport | +3.624 |
| 10 | 23 | Sebastien Buemi | CHE | Nissan e.DAMS | +3.695 |
| 11 | 10 | Sam Bird | GBR | Jaguar Racing | +3.733 |
| 12 | 20 | Mitch Evans | NZL | Jaguar Racing | +4.122 |
| 13 | 11 | Lucas di Grassi | BRZ | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | +4.144 |
| 14 | 88 | Tom Blomqvist | GBR | NIO 333 FE Team | +4.199 |
| 15 | 13 | Antonio Felix da Costa | POR | DS Techeetah | +4.551 |
| 16 | 94 | Alex Lynn | GBR | Mahindra Racing | +4.937 |
| 17 | 8 | Oliver Turvey | GBR | NIO 333 FE Team | +5.191 |
| 18 | 17 | Nyck de Vries | NED | Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | +5.223 |
| 19 | 4 | Robin Frijns | NED | Envision Virgin Racing | +6.032 |
| 20 | 33 | Rene Rast | GER | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | +6.055 |
| 21 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | FRA | DS Techeetah | +8.858 |
| 22 | 36 | Andre Lotterer | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | No Time |
| 23 | 7 | Sergio Sette Camara | BRZ | Dragon/Penske Autosport | No Time |
| 24 | 27 | Jake Dennis | GBR | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | No Time |
Super Pole Result
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | 37 | Nick Cassidy | NZL | Envision Virgin Racing | 1:52.011 |
| 2 | 71 | Norman Nato | FRA | ROKIT Venturi Racing | +0.332 |
| 3 | 99 | Pascal Wehrlein | GER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | +0.619 |
| 4 | 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team | +2.348 |
| 5 | 28 | Maximilian Gunther | GER | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | +2.690 |
| 6 | 29 | Alexander Sims | GBR | Mahindra Racing | +3.587 |
