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Formula E

Edoardo Mortara survives Jake Dennis scare to secure back-to-back Jeddah Formula E poles

Edoardo Mortara backed up his Friday Jeddah Formula E pole by securing pole yet again on Saturday.

Edo Jeddah
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Edoardo Mortara survived a scare from Jake Dennis to secure back-to-back pole positions at Formula E's Jeddah E-Prix. 

Mortara had looked dominant throughout qualifying, but Dennis remarkably set the quickest lap of the entire weekend in his semi-final. 

Nevertheless, a 1m 15.116 by Mortara was enough to win the final duel and secure pole, with Dennis, Antonio Felix da Costa and Oliver Rowland completing the top four.

It was a disastrous qualifying for Friday's winner in Jeddah and championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, who was eliminated in the group stage. 

Jaguar's Mitch Evans who also finished on the podium less than 24 hours ago suffered the same fate at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Duels

As qualifying entered the duels, Mortara was incredibly consistent across his quarter-final and semi-final, setting a 1m 15.1s lap in both.

It looked set to be an obvious pole for the Mahindra driver until Dennis posted a 1m 15.060 to make the final.

Unfortunately for Andretti, a mistake at Turn 10 cost Dennis in the final, allowing a supremely consistent Mortara to claim another pole.

To make the duels, Mortara first got the better of Jean-Éric Vergne in the quarter-finals before going quicker than Rowland in the semi-finals.

Dennis defeated Sebastien Buemi in his opening duel and went on to beat da Costa in the semi-finals to meet Mortara in the final.

In the other two quarter-finals, Rowland toppled Maximilian Günther, while da Costa knocked out Nick Cassidy, who made a crucial error in the final sector.

Group stage

Like on Friday, the group stage in qualifying produced several big shocks, as several key names found themselves outside the duel positions.

In the first group, championship leader and Friday evening’s winner Wehrlein struggled for pace, missing out on the duels and having to start from the sixth row.

Jaguar's Mitch Evans also failed to make the duels, less than 24 hours after finishing on the podium. There was delight, though, for Rowland, who made it into the duels on his final push lap.

Mortara’s strong form continued as he topped the first group on a 1m 17.151, ahead of Günther, Rowland, and Vergne.

The second group featured fewer surprises and went more as expected, with António Félix da Costa going quickest on a 1m 17.215, ahead of Dennis, Buemi, and Cassidy.

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