Wehrlein brilliance secures championship leader Monaco pole

Pascal Wehrlein secured pole position for the Monaco E-Prix in emphatic fashion, by defeating Stoffel Vandoorne in the final duel.

The championship leader clinched his third pole of Season 10 with an imperious display through the entire session, which saw him defeat Maximilian Günther in the quarter-final and Mitch Evans in the semi-final.

Nick Cassidy heads the second row with Evans alongside him, whilst Jean-Eric Vergne, Sebastian Buemi, Antonio Felix da Costa and Maximilian Günther complete the top-eight on the grid.

Reigning world champion and joint-championship leader Jake Dennis was dumped out in the group stage and will start from the ninth row of the grid.

Group stage

The opening group of qualifying at the Circuit de Monaco included Evans, who topped the timesheets in both practice sessions. It also featured championship leader Pascal Wehrlein and title contender Oliver Rowland.

At the halfway point in the group and it was Rowland who sat at the top, followed by Maximilian Günther, Evans and Wehrlein. The top four saw some change at the end of the session, as Evans topped the group ahead of Wehrlein, Günther and Antonio Felix da Costa.

It meant Rowland was eliminated, marking his first back-to-back group stage eliminations of the season. As for Da Costa, it was the first time he progressed to the duels since Portland last season.

In Group B, reigning world champion Dennis and last year's Monaco winner Cassidy were involved, as was Sam Bird's replacement rookie Taylor Barnard.

Vergne was the provisional fastest driver in the group after the opening hot laps, with Jake Hughes Vandoorne and Buemi having occupied the top four places. Come the end of the session and it was Vandoorne with the quickest time.

He was joined in the all-important top four by Cassidy, Buemi and Vergne, whilst last season's pole sitter Hughes could only manage P8. Dennis was a place lower in ninth and will start from the ninth row of the grid.

Quarter-Finals

The first quarter-final duel saw Günther at Maserati's home race go up against Wehrlein, the championship leader. Günther, on this occasion, was no match for Wehrlein, whose 1:29.886 was five-tenths faster than Günther's time.

Hoping to meet Wehrlein in the semi-finals was Porsche team-mate Da Costa and Evans, who has finished on the podium in Monaco the last three seasons. Evans defeated Da Costa with ease, courtesy of a 1:29.725.

In the third quarter-final duel, it was an all-Jaguar powertrain affair as Buemi went up against former team-mate Cassidy. Cassidy came out victorious by three-tenths of a second, after posting a competitive 1:29.000.

It was a DS Penske duel in the final quarter-final match-up, as Vandoorne battled Vergne. On this occasion, it was the Season 8 World Champion who secured the victory to progress to the semi-finals.

Semi-Finals

Semi-final number one was between championship leader Wehrlein and Evans, with the latter having been the favourite for outright pole. However, it was not to be for Evans, who cut the Nouvelle chicane.

Wehrlein was already up on Evans prior to the Jaguar driver's mistake, with the German's 1:29.759 being extremely impressive.

The second semi-final duel saw Cassidy duel Vandoorne, in a face-off to decide who would meet Wehrlein in the Monaco final. It was all looking good for Cassidy before the New Zealander made a costly error, handing Vandoorne victory and a place in the final.

Final

So, the final pitted Wehrlein against Vandoorne, with the DS Penske driver being the clear outsider. He was ultimately no match for Wehrlein who cruised to his third pole position of 2024.

Wehrlein set a 1:29.861 in the final to secure pole, with Vandoorne's lap having been four-tenths slower. It means the Porsche driver heads into the race with a three-point lead in the drivers' championship.