Diriyah E-Prix: Vandoorne beats Dennis to pole in qualifying duel

The new format, which features a two-group opening stage before breaking into a tournament-style duels battle over the best time, was employed for the first time since the former groups format was discarded.

Vandoorne went first in the final, initially losing out to a rapid Dennis in the opening sector and sitting over a tenth adrift.

But Dennis’ haste led to a mistake while navigating the quick-fire corners at the top of the hill, losing almost six tenths to the Mercedes driver with a Turn 6 slide and effectively ending his chances at pole.

The Andretti driver hit back with a strong final sector, but Vandoorne’s lap proved too much to overcome and left Dennis having to be content with second on the grid.

Mercedes navigated the group stage with both cars and guaranteed themselves a shot at the final as Vandoorne and de Vries were drawn against each other in the semi-final.

Vandoorne won that bout, de Vries explaining that he “almost shunted four times” as he had to contend with a drop in grip – falling to the Belgian by 0.4s.

Dennis had dispatched Andre Lotterer to book his place in the final, being told that he “wiped the floor with him” with a gap of over six tenths – as the German was held back by going slightly off-line and onto the dust.

Like Mercedes, Envision had navigated the group stage with both cars but both were knocked out in the group stages.

Jake Dennis, Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Lotterer kicked off his quarter final in a lairy fashion but kept the momentum and was able to put together a 1m09.018s lap.

Although Frijns kept it neck-and-neck, a comparatively poor end to the lap gave Lotterer the advantage to claim victory in the duel.

Sam Bird was then