Pascal Wehrlein (TAG-Heuer Porsche) powered to his second Julius Baer pole position of the season in three races after getting the better of DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne by a scant two-thousandths of a second in an exciting shootout Qualifying battle.

The German driver, who has been right on the pace since the start of the Brazilian E-Prix weekend yesterday, was fifth quickest in both Free Practice sessions before qualifying for the duels with a time of 1m13.728s. In the quarter-finals the German then got the better of Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) with a 1m12.846s lap, before eliminating Max Guenther (Maserati) in the semis with a time of 1m12.764s

There was very little to choose between Wehrlein and Vandoorne in the one-lap final encounter, but the Porsche driver was able to keep a cool head in a see-saw battle to set a time of 1m12.789s to cross the line just a fraction ahead of the Belgian.

After receiving the Julius Baer trophy for pole, Pascal declared: “First of all it was super hot out there, so you’re sweating like mad while driving, but it’s OK! The conditions have been very tough for everyone and for the whole team, but I think we can be super pleased with that. We finished in the top 5 in both practice sessions, and then I think we did another small step for qualifying. It has been a nice easy weekend to program everything and to build on the car’s performance, and so I’m really happy to get my second pole position of the year. Now we just have to wait for the race”

MIM CEO Salvatore Gandolfo added: “Pascal managed to set pole with a fantastic lap, and I’m really happy for him. All the team are also doing a great job, so a big thanks to them as well.”

With very little time to breathe in this packed race day schedule, Round 4 of the season will get underway in just over two hours time.