FE 2023 Mexico: Di Grassi secures pole after Dennis mistakes
14th January 2023Mahindra Racing’s Lucas Di Grassi secured the first pole position of 2023 after Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis made mistakes on his final one-lap shootout.
Group stages
In the first group, the pack of drivers quickly launched out onto the pit lane. While Maserati’s was the first one out of his garage, he was quickly beaten out onto the circuit by Jaguar’s Sam Bird who led the group out.
Naturally the Jaguar driver set the benchmark to beat with a 1:16.909. This time was unbeaten after the first set of qualifying runs as Di Grassi popped into second one second behind Bird.
Bird’s time was soon beaten by the pack as Envision’s Sebastien Buemi jumped to the top of the timing boards with a 1:13.864. However, with six minutes to go, Andre Lotterer topped the timing sheet with a 1:13.509, 0.092 seconds ahead of Lucas Di Grassi.
At the end of the first session, DS Penske’s Jean Eric Vergne was given a black and white flag.
Group A Duel Contenders:
- Andre Lotterer, Avalanche Andretti
- Sebastien Buemi, Envision
- Lucas Di Grassi, Mahindra
- Sacha Fenestraz, Nissan
In a similar instance to Group A, the remaining drivers peeled out onto the Mexican circuit to start their qualifying runs.
Maaerati’s Edoardo Mortara was one of the first drivers to set a lap time on the board, and it looked as if it wasn’t going to be beaten in the first set of runs.
However, McLaren’s – and Formula E – rookie, Jake Hughes jumped to the top of the times. He was quickly beaten but the British driver retaliated and returned to the top of the board with a 1:13.366, 0.348 seconds ahead of Mortara.
In the last five minutes, NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum jumped to the top of the leaderboard after the British driver went 0.079 seconds faster than his fellow compatriot.
In the last few minutes, after Andretti’s Jake Dennis topped the order, the duel-qualifying drivers stood as; Dennis, Ticktum, Hughes and Mitch Evans (Jaguar).
Group B Duel Contenders:
- Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti
- Dan Ticktum, NIO 333
- Jake Hughes, McLaren
- Pascal Wehrlein, Tag Heuer Porsche
Duel results
Quarter Finals
Lucas Di Grassi v Sebastien Buemi = Di Grassi wins by 0.01 seconds
Sacha Fenestraz v Andre Lotterer = Lotterer wins by 0.04 seconds
Jake Hughes v Dan Ticktum = Hughes wins by 0.1 seconds
Pascal Wehrlein v Jake Dennis = Dennis wins by 0.03 seconds
Semi Finals
Lucas Di Grassi v Andre Lotterer = Di Grassi wins by 1.5 seconds
Jake Hughes vs Jake Dennis = Dennis wins by 0.1 seconds
Pole Position
Di Grassi and Dennis were the first finalists of the 2023 Formula E World Championship.
Di Grassi cruised to the final after Lotterer locked up into the turn five hairpin, the two were separated by one second and a half. However, the fight was tighter between the two British Jake’s as Dennis edged Hughes by one-tenth of a second.
The Mahindra driver was the first driver to venture out onto the Mexican circuit ahead of the Andretti driver. Naturally, Di Grassi was the first to set his lap on the board.
However, Dennis made a couple of mistakes on his lap and found himself 2.9 seconds behind Di Grassi who took the first pole position of 2023.
Pole Position: Lucas Di Grassi, Mahindra Racing
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