Porsche team orders hand Pascal Wehrlein crucial London Formula E pole

Pascal Wehrlein will start the penultimate race of the season from pole position, following Porsche team orders at the London E-Prix.

Porsche team orders saw customer driver Dan Ticktum hand Wehrlein an easy semi-final win before the German driver's teammate Nico Müller did not push for pole in the final.

It saw Wehrlein receive three points for pole, putting him level with Mitch Evans, who starts from third and is just two points behind championship leader Jake Dennis in fifth.

Fourth in the standings, reigning world champion Oliver Rowland had a difficult qualifying session and starts in 14th. Just two points separate the top three with two races remaining this weekend.

Duels

In the all-factory Porsche final, it was actually Müller quickest in the first two sectors; however, the Swiss driver slowed at the last corner to hand Wehrlein pole. 

To reach the final, Wehrlein defeated Jean-Eric Vergne in the quarter-finals and then Ticktum in the semi-finals. 

As for Müller, he beat title outsider Antonio Felix da Costa and then big championship contender Evans, marking a double-Jaguar knockout. 

In the other two quarter-finals, Ticktum beat Dennis and Evans eliminated Joel Eriksson.

Group stage

With the championship fight at the forefront of the paddock's minds, it was always expected that qualifying would be dramatic.

In the opening group, Dennis grew furious with Nyck de Vries, the final driver mathematically still in title contention. The duo made contact, with a significant difference in pace between the two.

Both are under investigation, but Dennis still progressed to the duels in third. Wehrlein topped the session, with Ticktum and Vergne also progressing from Group A. In a blow to their slim title hopes, Edoardo Mortara and de Vries were both eliminated.

Group B was also an exciting affair, with Oliver Rowland eliminated in seventh. Müller topped the group ahead of Evans, the departing Eriksson and da Costa. It meant both factory Porsches and Jaguars made it through to the duels.