In qualifying ahead of the second race of 2020/21, Oliver Turvey looked super quick - dancing through the final sector on his hot-lap in Super Pole and more than making up for a small error through the opening third of the tour to stick his NIO 333 on provisional pole by 0.6 seconds over Nico Mueller’s early benchmark.
Both were eventually usurped - not least by a storming lap from Julius Baer polesitter Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing) - but Turvey wound up in an impressive fourth with his new teammate Tom Blomqvist lining up fifth, to make it two NIOs in the top six - much to the delight of both Brits and Team Principal Christian Silk.
"I'm thrilled to be back in Super Pole," said Turvey. "We made some changes this morning as I was struggling on push laps yesterday. I went for it and put in a really good lap. We've been trying to find the feeling through the brakes and I felt more confident with them heading into qualifying. To be on the second row is great for the team."
REPORT: All the details from qualifying ahead of Round 2 from Diriyah
"It's been a tough last two seasons to be honest with a lot of changes last season and a lot of learnings. We've got a new powertrain and we're hoping we can make some good steps forward this year."
"It's good to be back," said Blomqvist. "It's the first time I've started a season and it's been good so far. I was under no illusions joining the team after a difficult couple of seasons and at least we're now in the ballpark with the team having put in such hard work over the winter. That's really what matters and now we can build on that over the course of the season.
"It was a great first race yesterday to get the first point of the season for the team," added Turvey. "Making Super Pole today is a real achievement. We're making progress. Last year we learned a lot and there were a lot of changes. We're catching up and we're getting closer and closer."
The 2021 Diriyah E-Prix Round 2 is up next from 20:03 local time.