Nissan’s Oliver Rowland took the Julius Baer Pole Position ahead of Round 3 at Diriyah, taking on Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns in a nail-biting finale. “That’s why I’m back,” the Yorkshireman said on the radio after setting a blistering lap time of 1m10.055 – Dirija’s fastest lap time of the weekend.
RESULTS: The complete standings Diriyah E-Prix 2024 Round 3
The session saw several big names disappear early on, including champion and yesterday’s race winner Jake Dennis (Andretti) and championship leader Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche). Frijns’ team-mate Sebastien Buemi had a big spin in Group B which destroyed his car and left many drivers unable to improve their times. However, the mistake allowed Maserati MSG Racing rookie Jehan Daruvala to make his Duels debut.
Final
Envision’s Robin Frijns had a battle in the desert as he battled Nissan’s Oliver Rowland for the honor of pole position. Frijns’ first career pole came with Envision at Diriyah in 2021, but it was not to be as Oliver Rowland took his first pole from Seoul in 2022.
WATCH: How to watch or stream the Diriyah E-Prix double header from where you are
Rowland’s best start so far this season is 14th and the three pole points would be his first of the season. However, in an unusual statistic, the pole sitter has not won any of the last six races here at Diriyah.
Unfinished
Frijns faced DS PENSKE Season 8 Champion Stoffel Vandoorne for a place in the final. Frijns beat sister DS PENSKE of Vergne in the Quarters and did it again this time to secure himself a front row start. Dutchman Frijns had failed to finish higher than seventh in dry qualifying since Seoul 2022, diminishing his stunning wet-weather pole in Berlin last season. His last top row start on dry land, coincidentally, was Berlin in 2022.
The next match was between Cassidy and Yorkshireman Rowland. Cassidy is the only driver to make it to the Duels in every race so far this year, and has never previously started in Diriyah’s top five. This marked Rowland’s fifth career Duels appearance, and four of those were in Diriyah. Rowland made it to the Finals quickly as he went 0.197s faster than Cassidy.
Accommodation
First up was yesterday’s politician Jean-Eric Vergne vs. Frijns. The Dutchman’s team-mate sat and watched from the garage after an earlier crash, and Frijns managed to go two tenths faster and faster across the board. Both of these drivers have taken pole at Diriyah in the past, but Vernet has only taken pole together once in his career, in Berlin Season 6.
Next up was Sacha Fenestraz against Vandoorne, but it quickly became apparent that Vandoorne was the favourite, being only six tenths from the second field. This is the first time the Nissan team has appeared in the Season 10 duels, and they did so with both of their cars. Vandoorne was on pole for the 2022 Diriyah E-Prix and made it through to give him another shot at the semi-finals.
Jake Hughes took on Nick Cassidy in the third quarter-final, but despite the NEOM McLaren driver being former pole position holder Julius Baer at Diriyah, it was the Jaguar driver who went fastest. He will be hoping to make it a hat-trick of back-to-back podiums later today after finishing third in both rounds 1 and 2.
Rounding out were Rowland and rookie Jehan Daruvala in his first Duels appearance. Rowland looked quick all weekend and dominated the session to beat the Maserati MSG Racing driver by six tenths.
Group A
With track conditions some of the best they’ve been all weekend, lap times continued to drop as the first group battled for a place in the Quarters. Fenestraz flew over the 2.49km lap to set a time of 1m10.641s and go faster, the French-Argentine hoping for a better race today than he had yesterday when he was forced to retire. He was joined in the fastest four by Frijns and the two DS PENSKE drivers, Vergne and Vandoorne.
Traffic was an issue towards the end of the session as all 11 drivers wanted to go out as late as possible due to improvements as the track developed. In a shocking upset, a host of favorites were knocked out, including TAG Heuer Porsche points leader Pascal Wehrlein and yesterday’s front row star Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing).
Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther was also knocked out by finishing the session in sixth, with Andretti’s Norman Nato finishing in tenth. Antonio Felix da Costa’s weekend also did not improve as the Porsche driver finished over a second off the pace of Fenestraz.
Group B
The second group was hit hard by a red flag when Sebastien Buemi collided hard with the wall at Turn 3 after missing his braking point entering the corner. The Envision Racing driver, who took pole here last season, sustained significant damage to his front wing and suspension and will need a major rebuild ahead of the E-Prix which starts at 20:00 local time.
Rowland made it two from two for Nissan, with Fenestraz topping his group. He was joined in the Quarters by Cassidy who yesterday inherited a podium place after a last lap mistake in yesterday’s E-Prix. NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes, who took his maiden pole at Diriyah in Season 9, made it through to the duels, joined by rookie Daruvala. The Indian driver was helped by the Red Flags but an impressive achievement nonetheless.
The stoppage also meant laps were ruined for the likes of McLaren’s Sam Bird and yesterday’s race winner Jake Dennis. The Season 9 World Champion said he “drove the worst car I’ve ever driven in Formula E” charging that “it was probably a good thing the red flag came out because I was going to be thrown from the cars behind me”.