Pascal Wehrlein increases title fight threat after dominant Berlin pole

Reigning world champion Pascal Wehrlein further increased the title pressure on Oliver Rowland, after securing a dominant pole for the second race of the Formula E Berlin E-Prix. 

The Porsche driver was unstoppable on his way to pole, whilst a five-place grid penalty for hitting Stoffel Vandoorne on Saturday has demoted Rowland to eighth on the grid. 

To secure pole, Wehrlein defeated Dan Ticktum in the final on home soil for both himself and the team, whilst the second row is formed by Antonio Felix da Costa and Robin Frijns. 

Duels

In the final, Wehrlein was one-tenth quicker than Ticktum through both the first and second sectors, giving him a much-needed advantage in the final sector where time was lost. 

Ticktum gained just over one-tenth back in the final corners, but it was not enough to deny Wehrlein pole on a 57.850s.

To reach the final, Wehrlein first defeated Nico Müller in the quarter-finals, before demolishing his team-mate in the semi-finals. As for Ticktum, he went quicker than Taylor Barnard and then Rowland to rech the final. 

In the other two quarter-finals, Rowland eliminated Stoffel Vandoorne, whilst da Costa went faster than Frijns.

By securing pole, Wehrlein has reduced Rowland's championship lead to 47 points, meaning the Nissan driver must score 11 points more than the German in the race to win the world title.

Group stage

With rain not falling, lap times improved quickly at the Tempelhof Airport. Lucas di Grassi did not take part in the opening group, following a huge crash in third practice. 

Big Crashes remained a theme in the dying seconds of the first group, as Jake Hughes triggered a red flag with 54 seconds remaining after a heavy accident at Turn 2. 

Staggeringly, his best lap time being deleted promoted Rowland into the duels, a saving grace for the Nissan driver. Vandoorne topped the group, ahead of Barnard and Ticktum.

Lap times continued to improve rapidly in the second group, with sub one-minute laps having returned. 

There was no stopping Wehrlein, who set a 59.048s lap to go quickest in the group by three-tenths, ahead of da Costa. Frijns and Müller also progressed to the duels.