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Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein secured the Julius Baer Pole Position Award, and the three points that go with it, ahead of Round 1 of Season 12 in São Paulo. However, due to a three-place grid penalty handed out to the German driver for wheelspin in the pit lane, he will not start the race from the head of the field.
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“I find it quite ridiculous,” Wehrlein said after the session. “We all know the rule that you are not allowed to wheelspin the tyres in the pit lane, but that is not what I did.”
Despite the penalty, Wehrlein reinforced his confidence in the Porsche machine, and had faith that his car would be able to translate its clear qualifying pace into competitive race pace.
“The pace was good, and we are on pole position, we’ve got the three points and that’s a positive. For the race, it’s maybe not that bad actually to not start from pole position, but still, if you’re the fastest, you want to start from the front.”
The honour of starting from pole will instead go to Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who has never previously started on the front row in São Paulo, or made the podium here.
“I mean you’d take it any day of the week, after where we were in practice, when we were down in P17,” Dennis said.
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Indeed, it was quite the reversal of fortune for the Season 9 champion, who admitted that he was struggling with his car during the opening session of race day.
“We’ve had a bit of a turnaround,” he admitted. “I felt really bad in the car this morning, but I'm feeling better, still not great. Sector 1 is really my Achilles heel right now, it’s the braking settings, I just can’t find a happy medium.”
To translate his starting position into the race win will be quite the challenge for Dennis, as no driver has ever won the São Paulo E-Prix from the front row of the grid. It’s a record that Dennis is determined to change.
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“It’s not easy, you don’t really want to be leading for that long out here, it’s not all about energy today, it’s about battery temperature as well.
“I’ll stay out of trouble, and no reliability issues, we should be there at the end.”
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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