Mahindra dominate front-row as de Vries starts from pole in London

Here is the kind of wild session that leaves you staring at the monitors in pure disbelief. In qualifying for the final GEN3 era Formula E race in London, Mahindra Racing achieved a historic first-ever front-row lockout as they push for third in the Teams’ World Championship. Nyck de Vries captured pole position by defeating teammate Edoardo Mortara in an all-Mahindra final duel, and he did it with an absolute stunner of a lap, setting an outright track record of 1m06.925s.

Mahindra simply swept both Semi Final Duels to set up the showdown. De Vries went up against championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, sending the Porsche driver packing after Wehrlein had automatically secured a sixth top-four start at this circuit. On the other side of the garage, Mortara did the exact same thing in his duel, beating his Swiss compatriot Nico Müller (Porsche) to lock out the front row.

The early stages already gave us plenty of drama to unpack. In the Quarter Finals, Pascal Wehrlein set the better lap between himself and Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing), reaching the Duels in London for the sixth time in a row. That marked Wehrlein's 49th career appearance in the Duel stages, setting an official Formula E record. Next up, de Vries got the better time to knock out title contender Mitch Evans (Jaguar), while CUPRA KIRO’s Dan Ticktum suffered issues on his lap, which automatically sent Nico Müller through to the Semis. Edoardo Mortara was the quickest between him and Taylor Barnard for DS PENSKE, sailing straight through.

Group A saw Nyck de Vries continue his quick form by topping the session, with Pascal Wehrlein a tenth behind. Nick Cassidy finished third for Citroën Racing, and Mitch Evans grabbed fourth for Jaguar. Unfortunately for Jaguar, his teammate Antonio Felix da Costa failed to make it into the Duels. Meanwhile, heartbreak hit the garage for Lola Yamaha ABT’s Lucas di Grassi, who failed to set a lap after car issues in Free Practice 3 forced the team to rebuild the rear of his car ahead of his final Formula E race. Joining him on the sidelines with no time on the board was Norman Nato, who also suffered car troubles for Nissan.