Wehrlein bounces back from huge crash to claim Formula E Mexico City pole

Pascal Wehrlein bounced back from his horror São Paulo crash by claiming pole position for the Mexico City E-Prix. 

The reigning world champion defeated Porsche team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa, continuing his 100% pole position record for the season. For securing pole, the 30-year-old received three championship points. 

To make the final, Wehrlein defeated Oliver Rowland, whilst da Costa edged out Jean-Eric Vergne. Rowland will start third, with Vergne in fourth. Mitch Evans completed the top five.

There was big disappointment for Nick Cassidy, who had initially progressed to the duels but saw his best lap deleted for a technical infraction. He will start towards the back of the grid. 

Duels

Both factory Porsches looked unstoppable throughout qualifying, yet it was Wehrlein who came out on top in the final. 

Wehrlein and da Costa set almost identical first sector times, yet it was the German who had an edge of four tenths in the second sector. 

Da Costa was stronger in the final few corners, but it was not enough to beat Wehrlein's 1:10.984, falling just 0.125s short.

To progress to the final in Mexico City, Wehrlein defeated Nissan's Rowland in the semi finals and Edoardo Mortara in the quarter finals. 

As for da Costa, the Portuguese driver got the better of two-time champion Vergne by almost two tenths in the semi finals, whilst Jake Dennis was comfortably beaten in the quarter finals. 

In the two other quarter finals, Rowland defeated Jaguar's Evans, whilst Vergne won an all-DS Penske duel against Maximilian Günther.

Group stage

As is always the case in the Gen3 era, the drivers only had 300kW available in the group stage of qualifying. 

Following overnight rain and a damp second practice, only a few wet patches remained on the circuit. However, race control deemed the track as wet. 

Due to the circuit drying with every lap, the fastest times were delivered at the end of the 12-minute group session, which featured championship leader Evans and reigning champion Wehrlein.

It was the reigning champion who topped the first group, with a 1:14.610 on his final flying lap. Rowland, Buemi and Evans joined the German in the top four and progressed to the duels. 

At least that was the initial four; however, Buemi was investigated for a technical infraction and saw his best lap deleted, promoting Mortara into the duels.

In the second group, key drivers included the likes of da Costa, Cassidy and Vergne. The circuit continued to evolve, with lap times being over a second quicker than what was set in the first group.

Vergne initially failed to progress into the duels, unlike DS Penske team-mate Günther who was fastest in the group on a 1:13.352.

Just 0.139s split the top four, with Dennis securing second, ahead of Cassidy and da Costa who also qualified for the duels. 

However, there was post-group drama, as Cassidy lost his fastest lap following a technical infraction, promoting Vergne into the duels.