It’s time to set the grid for the Formula E Jakarta È-Prix with Qualifying! Will championship leader Oliver Rowland manage to put himself in a prime spot to extend his 68 points lead?
Group A
In spite of the high levels of humidity the track is rather dry now compared to the previous FP2. Andretti and Nissan drivers, as well as Da Costa, Vergne, Cassidy, Vandoorne, Mortara, Bird and Maloney take the track for the first Formula E Jakarta Qualifying segment.
After the first set of attempts Mortara leads from Cassidy, Nato and Rowland, whereas Da Costa signs the first significant attempt in the 1:15s.
Shanghai Podium sitter verge goes on top with a strong 1:11.69s, but times are tumbling already as both Andretti drivers go faster.
Mahindra’s Mortara signs the first 1:10.76s of the day midway through the session, as Nato slots in provisional P4.Vandoorne slightly improves his benchmark.
Nearing the end of the session Maloney goes in second place surprisingly with a 1:10.5s
Nato catches in his teammate Oliver Rowland while on a fast lap, preventing him from improving. Mortara instead returns in the lead with a strong 1:09.94s, advancing momentarily with Da Costa, Bird and Maloney ahead of the final set of attempts.
In spite of a strong final lap Rowland is out of Formula E Jakarta Qualifying, as well as Da Costa and Nato, slowest of the day. Replays show the championship leader making contact with the wall while on a very fast lap.
Vergne set a 1:09.46s to take P1, joining at the Duels Dennis, Mortara and latest race winner Nick Cassidy.
Group A results
Group B
Günther leads the first set of attempts from the Envision drivers and Di Grassi, as Evans signs the first actual non banking lap of the group in the 1:14s.
Last race winner in Jakarta Günther is the first to sign a lap in the 1:10s, while Evans goes fastest in the 1:09s.
At the halfway point in the session Wehrlein leads in 1:09.33s, from Günther, Ticktum and Monaco race winner Buemi. Times are quickly improving because of the evolving track conditions and the continued removal of dirt.
As track evolution comes to play, Buemi, De Vries and Ticktum all quickly cycle at the lead, with the Brit signing a 1:09.15s.
Many drivers hindered each other’s final attempts, getting into each other’s way and blocking some chances of final flying laps.
Ultimately Barnard ended Group B on top in 1:08.96s, the same time of De Vries, and advances alongside Buemi and Ticktum.
Great disappointed of the day will definitely be Shanghai race winner Günther and reigning champion Wehrlein, who will also be investigated for going unnecessarily slowly at the end of the session.
Frijns ended his session early in the pits because of a technical issue.
Group B standings
Quarter finals
The first duel see Mortara and Dennis face for a Semi Final spot. Will the Swiss driver manage to win his first duel of the year? He definitely began the Duel with a slight vantage, but Dennis build a 0.189s gap over him. Ultimately it came down to a handful of hundreds of a second, but the Andretti talent moves on.
Cassidy and Vergne are the next contendants for a Formula E Jakarta Qualifying semi final spot. Cassidy began with a 0.173s lead over the Frenchman in Sector 1, improved to half a second by the half of the lap and over a second at the end, even in spite of the Jaguar driver picking up dirt and going off the racing line.
Buemi and De Vries face next.The Dutch driver kept a comfortable gap to the Envision driver for the whole duration of the duel.
The last quarter final feature Barnard and Ticktum, with the Kiro racer starting out with a 0.074s of advantage. However the Neom McLaren driver closed it up a bit in Sector 2. It was the closest duel of the day so far as ultimately Barnard advances by only 0.005s.
Semi Finals
Dennis and Cassidy face in the first Semi Final of Fromula E Jakarta Qualifying. The Andretti driver began with a slight lead on Cassidy, who closed it inn Sector 1, but ultimately the Kiwi makes two big mistakes which have him 0.650s off his ruval’s time by Sector 2 and over two seconds down at the end of the lap.
Barnard and De Vries compete for the other spot, as the McLaren driver began with a 0.067s gap on the Mahindra driver, consistently increasing until the final sector.
Final
Who will start the Formula E Jakarta È-Prix from Pole Position by winning Qualidying? Barnard and Dennis both have a shot. The young Brit began behind 0.043s, but the Andretti closed up to 0.019s.
The duo was incredibly close in the first two sectors, but Barnard make a final mistake which ultimately awarded the win to Dennis and Andretti.
Tune in four hours for the race!
