Qualifying for the Monaco E-Prix saw Taylor Barnard take a stunning pole position in the principality.
Dan Ticktum entered Monaco E- Prix qualifying as the driver to beat, leading both morning practice sessions. The Cupra Kiro driver looked in imperious form around Monaco’s famous streets. His pace gave the Briton the best opportunity to secure pole position.
Surprise Miami podium finishers, Lola, by comparison, suffered a nightmare. Drivers Zane Maloney and Lucas Di Grassi ended the FP2 at the bottom of the standings, seemingly struggling for pace.
Title Contenders Nissan, McLaren and Porsche also had mixed sessions, with none able to break into the top five.
With two races in two days, and so little practice time, qualifying would be crucial ahead of the race.
Group A
Odd-numbered drivers in the championship took to the track for Monaco E-Prix qualifying first. Title contenders Oliver Rowland and Wehrlein needed a good result to avoid qualifying in the lower order.
The Porsche of Wehrlein was the first car out onto the circuit, and had the circuit to himself. The rest of Group A followed a few moments later, badly bunched up.
Beginning to spread out, the runners first did their build runs to get a lap in. These saw the two Nissans at the top, with Nyck De Vries and Sam Bird take the remaining spots in the duels.
As the drivers started to push, Sam Bird abandoned his lap after missing the chicane out of the tunnel. The McLaren was now under pressure. He responded by jumping back to P2 on his second run.
The times started to tumble as the clock counted down. At the chequered flag, it was Wehrlein under pressure as he fell to third on his final run. A storming lap from Jake Dennis saw him progress, while De Vries was a surprise, moving into P3.
Out: Maxillian Guenther, Sam Bird, Nico Mueller Jean Eric Vergne Jean Eric Vergne, Norman Nato Sebastien Buemi, Zane Maloney
Group B
The even placed drivers were next. They took to the track far more spaced out than Group 1, requiring much less positioning on the track. Both Cupra Kiro’s featured in this group, with eyes on them to see if both could progress.
At the end of the first build runs, Lucas Di Grassi’s first push lap demonstrated the nadir of the Lola’s handling in Monaco. Slipping and sliding, he moved to the top of the timesheets, but lost time all through the lap.
Dan Ticktum and the Jaguar of Mitch Evans were amongst the first to set a push lap. Evans pulled clear by six tenths of a second, with Ticktum finishing less than a tenth behind. As the clock counted down, Taylor Barnard, looked set to finish fastest.
As the final runs ended, Evans took the top spot, only to be usurped by Dan Ticktum by 0.299s. Barnard was demoted to third, with Robin Frijins taking the remaining duel spot.
Eliminated: Edoardo Mortara, David Beckmann, Stoffel Vandoorne, Antonio Felix Da Costa, Lucas Di Grassi, Nick Cassidy, Jake Hughes
Quarter Finals
Nyck de Vries vs Jake Dennis
De Vries started his lap first, taking a neat line into Saint Devote. Dennis’s line however proved better, and started to pull back. De Vries, however, had more than enough in hand to knock out the Season 9 champion, just under two-tenths of a second faster than the Andretti.
Pascal Wehrlein vs Oliver Rowland
With two title contenders in one quarter-final duel, the slowest would be condemned to a midfield grid start. Rowland was a quarter of a second up in the first sector on the reigning champion. Extending his advantage, knocked out Wehrlein by two tenths of a second.
Taylor Barnard vs Mitch Evans
Barnard was first over the line, but Evans had the better line out of Saint Devote. By the end of the first sector, the Jaguar was a tenth of a second ahead. Both drivers had moments in the second sector, with Evans’ proving the most costly, failing to progress by almost four tenths of a second.
Robin Frijns vs Dan Ticktum
Frijns faced a mountain to climb to dethrone the in-form Ticktum. At the end of the first sector, Ticktum led by just 0.40s. Ticktum nailed his final sector to knock out the Envision driver by 0.171s.
Semi Finals
Nyck De Vries vs Oliver Rowland
Championship leader Rowland pulled out nearly two tenths of a second in the first sector on De Vries. The Mahindra started to catch him, moving to within a tenth of second. Rowland progressed to the finals with a storming lap. He would face either Ticktum or Rowland.
Dan Ticktum vs Taylor Barnard
A fascinating duel between the two British drivers, both had something to prove after bad races in Miami. At the end of the first sector it was Barnard who was ahead. But Ticktum started to close on the McLaren, within 0.020s of Barnard. But the McLaren pulled out a phenomenal final sector to out-qualify Ticktum by just under a tenth of a second.
Final
Oliver Rowland vs Taylor Barnard
Not for the first time this season, Rowland faced his former protege in the battle for pole position. Both had searing pace in the duel, with little to choose between them. Rowland was first to start his lap, but crashed into Saint Devote. He was able to continue, but his chances of pole position were all but over. Barnard took pole position in Monaco, to the delight of McLaren.
Rowland now faced an anxious wait to see if any damage had been done to his Nissan after his first corner crash.
Final Classification
- T Barnard
- O Rowland
- D Ticktum
- N de Vries
- P Wehrlein
- R Frijns
- J Dennis
- M Evans
- E Mortara
- M Gunther
- D Beckmann
- S Bird
- S Vandoorne
- N Muller
- A Da Costa
- J Vergne
- L Di Grassi
- N Nato
- N Cassidy
- S Buemi
- J Hughes
- Z Maloney
