Andretti dominance shock as Jake Dennis seals Sanya Formula E pole

Jake Dennis secured pole position for Formula E's first Sanya E-Prix since 2019, with Andretti dominating the session.

It was an all-Andretti final to many people's surprise, although a mistake by Felipe Drugovich rooted the Brazilian to second on the grid. For Dennis, it marked his first pole since Jakarta last year.

Despite struggling throughout practice, championship leader Mitch Evans secured third on the grid, while Dan Ticktum starts in fourth.

Qualifying featured two huge shocks in regard to the title fight, as second in the standings Edoardo Mortara was eliminated in the group stage, despite being a favourite for pole. 

Reigning world champion Oliver Rowland also failed to make the duels, leaving both with ground to make up on a circuit where overtaking is expected to be challenging.

Duels

In what looked set to be a thrilling final with an intra-team battle, it turned into more of a no-contest. A costly mistake by Drugovich in the first sector cost the rookie. 

By the end of the lap, Dennis went just over one-second quicker than his team-mate, but it still marked an incredible achievement for the American outfit as it was its first front row lock-out.

To reach the final, Drugovich first defeated Nick Cassidy and then Evans in the semi finals by just 0.025s, with the rookie looking strong on the Sanya streets. 

As for Dennis, he eliminated rival Pascal Wehrlein in the quarter finals, before moving past Dan Ticktum with ease in the semi finals after the Cupra Kiro driver went off into the hairpin escape road. 

In the other two quarter finals, Evans proceeded to the next stage after going just 0.001s faster than Taylor Barnard, while Ticktum defeated Nyck de Vries.

Group stage

With the air temperature surpassing 30 degrees Celsius and humidity sitting at around 80-90%, a hot and sweaty qualifying session got underway.

Surprises and shocks unfolded in both groups, the first of which was Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara failing to make the duels from Group A despite being one of the favourites for pole position.

Drugovich went quickest in the opening group for Andretti and was joined in the all-important top four by Barnard, Evans, who had been struggling throughout practice, and Cassidy.

In the second group, another title contender endured a disappointing session, as Rowland was knocked out in sixth. However, he will start from the fifth row due to Barnard's 10-place grid penalty.

Wehrlein was fastest in the second group, with de Vries, Ticktum and Dennis also progressing to the duels. Zane Maloney struck the wall on his final lap, resulting in major damage to his right-rear suspension.