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Despite getting the best lap in the Final Duel for the 2025 Google Cloud São Paulo E-Prix, Pascal Wehrlein and Porsche will start today’s race – lights out at 14:00 local time – from fourth on the grid. Wehrlein was caught wheelspin as he left the pit lane, which is against the Sporting Rules for Season 12, and as a result was hit with this penalty.
Jake Dennis inherits the first place grid slot for Andretti, in a session where his new team-mate Felipe Drugovich brought out red flags after clipping the barrier during the Group sessions. Wehrlein will still take the three points though, which means he leads the Drivers’ World Championship ahead of Round 1.
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Dan Ticktum will now line-up alongside Dennis on the front row, with Edoardo Mortara third and Wehrlein now fourth. Nyck de Vries is fifth for Mahindra Racing and lines up alongside Antonio Felix da Costa in sixth, a great performance in his first race for Jaguar TCS Racing.
Final
Despite the looming penalty, Wehrlein continued to put on a dominant display, easily defeating Dennis in the final with a lap time of 1m9.812s, and securing the three points and Julius Baer Pole Position award - the 10th pole for the Porsche team.
Thankfully for Wehrlein, his penalty might prove to be a blessing in disguise as nobody has ever won the São Paulo E-Prix from the front row of the grid - a statistic that Dennis will be hoping to change.
Semis
Mortara gained the early advantage in his semi duel with Dennis, but the Andretti driver pulled the deficit back in the final two sectors and narrowly made it into the final by 0.029 seconds.
The second semi was no less tense, with Wehrlein and Ticktum both pushing hard to make the final. Ultimately, it was Wehrlein who came out on top - the German driver going for three consecutive São Paulo poles.
However, regardless of the final qualifying result, the German driver wouldn’t have the chance to start from pole - being awarded a three-place grid penalty for wheelspin in the pit lane.
Quarters
First up in the quarters was Mortara versus Vergne, marking Vergne’s first duel stage appearance since Jakarta, 5 races ago. Despite having lost all 6 quarter-final duels in which he appeared last season, it was Mortara who sailed through, an impressive half a second ahead of the Citroen.
Two former champions, Da Costa and Dennis, were up next, and the two could barely be separated throughout their laps, but in the end it was Dennis who made it through to the next stage of qualifying.
In the third duel, Wehrlein and De Vries went head to head with the Porsche driver seizing an early advantage. De Vries did his best to catch the Season 10 champion, but ultimately the early deficit was too much and Wehrlein secured his place in the semis.
Finally, Ticktum and Nato took to the track for their Duel. Ticktum immediately began testing the limits of his CUPRA KIRO, but didn’t lose any time to Nato. As the lap progressed, Ticktum pulled out the gap and put an end to Nissan’s qualifying session.
Group A
Under the São Paulo sun, all the cars in Group A made their way onto track. Jake Dennis and Pepe Martí found early pace in the session, but as the times began to topple, other contenders entered the mix for the Duels.
In the final minute, drivers struggled to create a gap on the congested track, but thankfully all managed to make it to the line before the chequered flag came out. Zane Maloney was the only driver who failed to set a flying lap, retiring to the pits before the end of the session.
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After an impressive final lap, it was the Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa who came out on top with a 1m12.140s, a tenth ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne - an impressive feat for ABB Formula E newcomers Citroën Racing. Edoardo Mortara and Jake Dennis completed the Duels positions.
But the big story from Group A was Oliver Rowland. The defending champion finished the session in P5, and was clearly unhappy with his qualifying performance when he returned to the Nissan garage. To add more salt to the wound, the Brit carries a three-place grid penalty from an incident at the 2025 Marvel Fantastic Four London E-Prix.
Group B
In the early stages of Group B, it was home hero Felipe Drugovich who topped the timing charts, with the other drivers in the group biding their time before going for their flying laps.
However, the session brutally went south for the Andretti driver. With two minutes remaining, Drugovich had heavy contact after clipping the wall at Turn 6, bringing out the first Red Flag of the season. There was further misery for the local Brazil fans, with Lucas di Grassi staying in the pits for the resumption of the session.
An intense final two minutes of the sessions followed, with all drivers having one last chance to set a flying lap and make it into the Duels.
Norman Nato came out on top with a 1m12.308, saving Nissan’s qualifying session, less than a tenth ahead of the Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein and the Mahindra of Nyck de Vries. Dan Ticktum was the final driver to make it through, two tenths off the time of Nato.
Mitch Evans narrowly missed out on a place in the Duels, as did Taylor Barnard, who clipped the final corner during his flying lap.
SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2025 Google Cloud São Paulo E-Prix
Make sure you don't miss a moment, as we get ready to kickstart Season 12 with one of the best races of the year. It's lights out at 14:00 local time.
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