In the absence of 20 minutes to start this second classification in Monaco, the rain made an appearance and not in a light way. It rained with forcefulness for a few minutes and this caused the pilots to find the track completely and therefore, they had to deal with very difficult conditions for this Gen3 Evo, as already seen in the free 2 of Mexico.
It is not easy to pilot a car with such little aerodynamic load as the formula E and also with tires that do not have too much grip like Hankook. This caused the early days to be almost 40 seconds slower than yesterday, although at the end of the session, 28 of the best record of yesterday in classification remained.
Nyck de Vries was the fastest in these complicated conditions, ahead of an Antonio Félix da Costa that returned to its best version in the rain and Oliver Rowland, also quickly in these conditions. Dan Ticktum continued with his good run and put the Kiro coupra in fourth position. Mitch Evans, Robin Beans and Jaguar’s motor train were the negative surprise of the day in general.
In the second group, the action was interrupted in the absence of two and a half minutes by an accident of Sam Bird and the evolution of the track, that last round was going to dictate the final result. Sébastien Buemi showed all his talent with an incredible time that earned him first with a car that is not to be so up.
Stellantis was the driving train that worked best in these coditions, with the two DS Penske of Jean-ic Vergne and Maximilian Günther passing the cut and the Maserati of Stoffel Vandoorne as well. Pascal Wehrlein stayed out with the Porsche and the Pole man yesterday, Taylor Barnard, will also leave this afternoon.
None of the duels in these conditions were matched, since it is common for the differences to be larger. Rowland made a great return to overcome a day coast that was much more cautious and went to ensure a good starting position for this afternoon, which will be the sixth.
De Vries surpassed a ticktum that he could not score some time to skip the chicane from the port and the same happened with Buemi in his duel against Günther. In the battle between two former teammates, Vergne surpassed Vandoorne to put the two DS penske in the semifinals.
In the duel between Rowland and Vries, yesterday’s rematch between the first and second classified of Saturday’s race, there was a very strange moment. Nyck went long in Santa Devota and Oliver did the same when he arrived 15 seconds later, but it is true that the latter needed two seconds less to resume the march and could maintain that advantage during the rest of the return to get into the final.
In the other semifinal, both Vergne and Günther skipped the chicane of the port and both lost their best time due to track limits. Therefore, neither was in a position to go to the final and Rowland took the pole without the need to go on track. Three more points for Oliver, which further increases its advantage in the World Cup and although a lot of season remains, it approaches its first title.
