Rowland to start from pole position in second Saudi ePrix

The second qualifying session of the Formula E weekend in Saudi Arabia is over. Oliver Rowland finished on pole position after he defeated Robin Frijns in the final. Nick Cassidy rounded off the Top 3 in qualifying.

De Vries out after the first round

As always, qualifying for the Formula E race started with two groups: Group A and Group B. The first four drivers from each group advanced to the quarter-finals. In Group A, these were Sacha Fenestraz, Robin Frijns, Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne. Nyck de Vries got no further than P9 out of 11 competitors, although not much more can be expected from his Mahindra car.

In Group B, it was Oliver Rowland, Nick Cassidy, Jake Hughes and Jehan Daruvala who went through. Sebastien Buemi was right behind them, but could not finish his attack attempt as he parked his car in the wall in the closing stages of the session. In doing so, he caused a red flag and the session was not resumed.

In the first quarter-final, which started delayed due to repair work on the wall, Frijns took on Vergne. Both drivers had a single lap to set a fast time and advance to the semi-finals. In the end, Frijns won over Vergne, meaning the Dutchman went through and faced Stoffel Vandoorne in the semi-final. Frijns won and advanced to the final. In the other semi-final, British driver Oliver Rowland was faster than Nick Cassidy. 

Rowland claims pole position

The final was between Frijns (Envision Racing) and Oliver Rowland (Nissan Formula E Team). In the end, Rowland had the upper hand, taking pole position. Frijns will start the second Diriyah ePrix alongside Rowland from the front row.