Pascal Wehrlein secured his second consecutive Formula pole, and third of the season, by defeating Stoffel Vandoorne on the streets of Monaco.
The TAG Heuer Porsche driver’s best time of 1m29.861s was 0.433s quicker than the DS Penske man, with both making it through to the Duels final after defeating both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers in the semifinals.
Wehrlein defeated Mitch Evans, who’d topped both practice sessions earlier in the morning, but an error at the Nouvelle Chicane cost him. Vandoorne recovered from a mistake at the start of his lap to overhaul Nick Cassidy who lost time at the swimming pool section towards the end of the lap.
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Ahead of the Jaguar Duels, Wehrlein beat Maximillian Guenther (Maserati MSG Racing) while Vergne knocked out his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne. Evans and Cassidy defeated Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) and Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing) in their respective opening Duels.
Wehrlein’s route to pole began by finishing second to Evans in the first part of group qualifying, ahead of Guenther and da Costa, with Robin Frijns (Rnvision), Sergio Sette Camara (ERT), Nico Mueller (Abt Cupra), Nyck de Vries (Mahindra), Oliver Rowland (Nissan), Lucas di Grassi (Abt Cupra) and Norman Nato (Andretti) all failing to advance.
Vandoorne, meanwhile, topped his group, ahead of Cassidy, Buemi, and Vergne, with Jehan Daruvala (Maserati), Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra), Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan), and the British quartet of Jake Hughes (NEOM McLaren), Jake Dennis (Andretti), Dan Ticktum (ERT), and Taylor Barnard (McLaren) all failing to advance.
Behind the front row of Wehrlein and Vandoorne, it will be Cassidy in third and Evans fourth on the grid, with champions Vergne, Buemi, and da Costa behind in fifth, sixth, and seventh. Guenther will start eighth, with Frijns and Daruvala completing the top-10 grid positions.
Sette Camara will line up 11th, ahead of Mortara, de Vries, Fenestraz, Rowland, and Hughes, with de Grassi, Dennis, Nato, Ticktum, Mueller, and Barnard completing the grid.
Mueller initially qualified 13th, but was dropped to the penultimate position due to a discrepancy with the torque being applied by his car’s rear wheels.