The British driver won his dispute with Sacha Fenestraz and secured pole position for Avalanche Andretti at his home race
Racing on home soil, Avalanche Andretti started the Formula E weekend well at Portland International Racing, hosting the Electric Car World Championship for the first time. The North American team will start from pole position with Jake Dennis, who scored three points and is now championship leader.
Dennis arrived in Portland just one point behind then championship leader, German Pascal Wehrlien (TAG Heuer Porsche). And in qualifying, the British driver of Avalanche Andretti saw his direct rivals for the championship leadership excluded from the playoffs, as he continued to advance from the stage to the final, where he overtook Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan) with a time of 1min08s931.
Dennis’ main opponents for the lead are at the back of the grid. Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) will start from tenth position, while former leader Pascal Wehrlein will only start from eighteenth. Mitch Evans hasn’t even trained and will leave in 20th position. The Brazilians did not do well in qualifying either: Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra Racing) starts 13th, while Sérgio Sette Câmara (NIO 333 Racing) starts 19th.
How was the training
In Group A most of the session was dominated by the Nissan cars, which were among the fastest of the Portland weekend. Sacha Fenestraz was the fastest of the group, followed by Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske), Norman Nato (the other car of the Japanese team) and Maximilian Günther (Maserati MSG Racing).
Already in Group B, expectation was high on the NEOM McLaren, which uses the Nissan power unit. And indeed both Woking team cars advanced, with René Rast in first place and Jake Hughes in third. Among the teammates was Jake Dennis, with Antonio Félix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche) rounding out the four that advanced to the playoffs.
Before the start of the quarterfinals DS Penske announced that both of his cars will start from the pits. Even so, JEV got into contention with Norman Nato, and ended up being eliminated by the Nissan driver. The other car from the Japanese automaker driven by Sacha Fenestraz also won the dispute with Max Günther.
On the other side of the quarterfinals, in the duel of “Jakes”, the winner was the Avalanche driver Andretti, who defeated the opponent from NEOM McLaren. In turn, René Rast did not give the Portuguese Porsche driver any chance and advanced to the semi-finals.
In the semifinal the duels were well balanced. In the battle between the two Nissan cars, Sacha Fenestraz got the better of his teammate. In the other contest, Jake Dennis beat René Rast and secured his presence in the final.
The battle for pole position was also in the details. Rast also managed to go well in the first two partials, but in the end the day really belonged to Jake Dennis, who won the battle and secured Avalanche Andretti’s first pole position of the season, right in the home race of the North team American. And what’s more, he took the lead in the championship, with 136 points, two more than Wehrlein.
The Portland E-Prix will kick off this Saturday at 9pm, broadcast on BandSports and also on the Grand Prix YouTube channel.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
