FE: Rookie Jake Dennis takes his debut pole position in drying qualifying

Jake Dennis has taken a scorching debut FE pole for the second Valencia E-Prix today. 

In what was a drying qualifying session, where every lap got faster, Dennis did the fastest Group Qualifying time and as a result had the best track in Super Pole and took BMW’s first pole of the year.

His teammate Max Günther had his lap-time deleted so it’s a grid that will be bookended by the BMW drivers.

The first qualifying group was held on a wet track so the chances of any of the first six getting through to Super Pole was unlikely but the top placed drivers in the championship gave it their best shot.

There was quite a margin across the laptimes with Wehrlein fastest nearly 4 tenths ahead. of Evans in second.

The championship leaders were destined to be way down the field.

Top 6 after G1: WEH, EVA, FRI, VAN, DEV, BIR

The changeable conditions became very clear in Group 2 with five of the six drivers surpassing the Group 1 runners.

It did prove how good Pascal Wehrlein’s lap was to still be in contention after a wetter lap, like he had from Group 2 in Rome. There was more pace to be found though because Da Costa was way up on Vergne but made a very large mistake in the final sector.

Top 6 after Group 2: JEV, SIM, DAC, WEH, RAS, MOR

Oliver Rowland was really hustling the car through Group 3, as was Nick Cassidy who was unbelievably quick.

Cassidy was a second up at the second sector but then lost two seconds in the final sector when he slid off the track on the wet kerbs and ended up way down the field in what should have been a certain Super Pole spot.

Top 6 after Group 3: JEV, ROW, BUE, SET, SIM, DAC

Group 4 became a formality. They were all so far ahead with every driver getting into Super Pole. Jake Dennis was fastest and picked up the point for Group qualifying.

Super Pole: DEN, LOT, LYN, BLO, TUR, NAT

The track improvement during Super Pole was something else. As each driver went out in reverse order of how they finished the group stages, the track got better.

Norman Nato went out first, then Oliver Turvey, Tom Blomqvist and Alex Lynn and each went faster than the one before them.

Andre Lotterer then went for Porsche and put himself at the top. But Jake Dennis couldn’t be stopped and he went fastest by eight tenths. It was a mega lap by him, absolutely brilliant.

Another rookie pole position in 2021.

The race is at 1pm BST.