It was an all-Jaguar TCS Racing final as Mitch Evans defeated Sam Bird by 1.8 seconds to take his second pole position of the season and lead the grid away at the start of the Rome E-Prix.
In Group A qualifying, current World Champion, Stoffel Vandoorne, hit the wall at turn 7 in his DS Penske, damaging the front wing after losing control of the rear of the car. However, he was able to continue but would have a lot of work to do if he wanted to progress.
With the clock ticking down, the purple sectors were flashing up on the timing screen. Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche) was first to rise to the top of the leaderboard, but he would quickly be replaced by rapid-rookie Sacha Fenestraz in his Nissan.
He would be joined by Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing), Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) and Maximillian Guenther (Maserati MSG) as the drivers that progressed into the knock-out duels.
There would be some late drama, however, as Sam Bird’s lap time was deleted along with Vandoorne’s, both for failing to slow under yellow flags. There would be drama again as the lap times would then be reinstated and Bird would progress to the duels.
In Group B, Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) would be the pace-setter, but Jake Hughes (NEOM McLaren) would bring his running to an end with a huge crash at one of the fastest parts of the circuit. Thankfully, he was able to climb out of his car but his qualifying was over.
Sebastian Buemi (Envision Racing), Rene Rast (NEOM McLaren) and Edoardo Mortara (Maserati MSG) were the drivers joining Evans in progressing to the duels.
First up was the battle of the Brits, as Bird would take on Dennis in the opening duels. The Jaguar TCS Racing driver would progress after going just under half a second faster, not what Dennis needed going into the title battle this weekend. However, thankfully for him, his closest competitor, Nick Cassidy, failed to make it out of the groups.
Fenestraz was the next driver to make it into the semi-finals, beating Guenther by 0.443 seconds, he would face Bird in the semi-final.
Next up was Buemi vs Rast, with only 0.039 seconds separating the pair. However, it would be the Swiss driver that made it into the semi-finals and would face the winner of the final quarter-final duel.
The final duel would see Evans take on Mortara, with the Jaguar TCS Racing driver progressing by 0.440 seconds to set up a duel against Buemi.
Semi-final one between Bird and Fenestraz would see the British driver progress by over a second, with his team-mate Evans also getting the better of Buemi by over two seconds to make it an all-Jaguar front-row.
In the all Jaguar battle, the Julis Bar Pole Position would be one by the New Zealander of Mitch Evans to give him his second pole position of the season.