Mitch Evans seals London Formula E pole as Nissan suffer disaster

Mitch Evans delivered a magical final sector to seal pole position for the opening race of this weekend's Formula E London E-Prix. 

The Jaguar driver defeated Nyck de Vries in the final by almost two-tenths of a second, following a strong 1m 07.205. Pole secured him three points, helping Jaguar's pursuit of the top three.

It was a disastrous qualifying for Nissan both as a team and as a manufacturer, as all four cars powered by the Japanese company, including Oliver Rowland, were eliminated in the first group.

To add to the factory Nissan team's woes, Pascal Wehrlein secured third on the grid for Porsche, in a huge boost in the teams' and manufacturers' championships. 

Duels

In the final duel at the ExCeL Centre, it was de Vries who had the edge through the first and second sectors. 

However, the Dutchman slightly missed the apex at the penultimate corner, where Evans happened to be flawless. Evans found two-tenths on de Vries in the final two corners, to clinch pole.

To reach the final, Evans first defeated Jake Hughes in the quarter-finals, before getting the better of reigning world champion Pascal Wehrlein in the semi-finals. 

As for de Vries, he went got the better of Maximilian Günther in the quarter-finals, then went quicker than Dan Ticktum in the semi-final – Ticktum also had his lap deleted.

In the other two quarter-finals, Ticktum progressed past Nick Cassidy and Wehrlein defeated Stoffel Vandoorne.

Group stage

As the group stage got underway, several drivers struggled to post a competitive lap time in the opening minutes. However, Jaguar's departing Cassidy was immediately on it. 

The New Zealander topped the first group on a 1m 08.785, almost two-tenths ahead of Günther. Mahindra's de Vries and Kiro's Ticktum completed the top four and progressed to the duels. 

It was disaster for Nissan in its fight against Porsche in both the teams' and manufacturers' championship. Newly crowned world champion Rowland was eliminated, as was team-mate Norman Nato. 

To add to the woes of the Japanese manufacturer, McLaren – its customer outfit – saw both of its drivers also fail to make the group stage, handing a huge advantage to Porsche in Group B.

Wehrlein capitalised on the advantage and went quickest in the second group, following a 1m 08.690. Evans was second but two-tenths adrift, ahead of both Maserati drivers. 

Unfortunately for the factory Porsche squad, Antonio Felix da Costa was ninth and starts from the ninth row.