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Rowland seizes Julius Baer Pole Position for Round 9 in Puebla
Oliver Rowland was on rails in his Nissan e.dams as he romped to a fourth Julius Baer Pole Position in qualifying for the CBMM Niobium Puebla E-Prix Round 9.
The battle for Julius Baer Pole Position was another thrilling affair with Nissan e.dams' Oliver Rowland taking the honours with his fourth Formula E pole.
Swapping positions from qualifying yesterday, Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team) will start the race from second on the grid; the German getting another shot at a maiden win for both himself and Porsche after the disqualification from the race yesterday.
Those at the sharp end of the Drivers' World Championship were left down the field with standings leader Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing) in 21st. The Dutchman has a big task ahead of him for the race.
More thrills in Group 1
There was more Group 1 shenanigans with the pack all bunched together and fighting for position in the run to start their flying laps. Rene Rast (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) was leading the train but made a mistake getting completely sideways at Turn 3 and cutting across the dirt - his lap time ultimately cancelled for returning to the circuit unsafely.
Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-EQ) survived the chaos to take the top spot in the first group, posting the benchmark for the rest of the drivers.
BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Jake Dennis lit up the timing screen with all purple sectors to pinch the top spot from Vandoorne. Almost in a carbon copy of yesterday, the Group 2 runners demoted the first batch of drivers out of Super Pole contention.
Dennis' time was enough to hold strong against the remaining groups. Rowland getting close and joining his fellow Brit in the top six and by two tenths.
It was a mix of drivers from the second and third groups filling out the spots for the Super Pole shoot-out, with Dennis taking the point and being joined by Rowland, Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH), Alex Lynn (Mahindra Racing), Wehrlein and Edoardo Mortara (ROKiT Venturi Racing).
Super Pole showdown
Mirroring Saturday's Super Pole session, Mortara was the first out to set the target time for the challengers. But unlike yesterday it was a much cleaner lap from the Swiss-Italian without any huge drama.
Wehrlein followed with two quick sectors, but lost a lot of time in Sector 3, it was still enough to finish a tenth quicker than Mortara. The German's lap was enough to hold off Lynn's flying lap, the Mahindra Racing driver slotting into second - but a technical infraction would drop him down to sixth.
Vergne had a scruffy lap, fighting his tyres around the corners of the Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, the rear stepping out and costing him time as the Frenchman clocked the fourth fastest time in the session but the two-time champion was bumped up to third post-session following Lynn's penalty.
Next up was Rowland, it was a full-on lap from the British driver but with two solid sectors to close the lap it was enough to depose Wehrlein from the top of the timesheets.
After a stunning lap in group qualifying, a lock-up in Turn 11 was costly for Dennis, the BMW driver ending up with the sixth fastest time but shifted up to fifth.
Julius Baer Pole Position was a silver lining for Rowland and Nissan e.dams after their radio troubles on the grid yesterday hindered them in the race. With another shot at the victory today, the Brit could well put himself right up in the championship contention.
Tune in to all the action from the CBMM Niobium Puebla E-Prix Round 9 at 16:00 CDT. Follow the race in the Live Hub with all the data in the real-time and find out all the ways to watch.
