The weather completely reshuffled the cards and at the end of the suspense, after Qualifying was truncated by the absence of a final and run entirely on a wet track, Saturday’s big winner, Oliver Rowland (Nissan), will start on pole position for the 9th Monaco E-Prix, Sunday at 3:04pm, with Nyck de Vries (Mahindra), 2nd on Saturday, just next to him on the first row of the grid.

The Qualifying final did not take place, as the two DS Penske drivers, Jean-Eric Vergne and Maximilian Günther, both cut the Port chicane during their battle in the second semi-final. As a result, neither driver qualified for the final. This was enough to satisfy Rowland, who had almost lost everything in his own semi-final, shooting straight at Sainte Dévote. But as de Vries had just done the same, but took longer to get back on track, it’s the Briton who will start from pole position on Sunday afternoon.

Before these two final twists, which presage a fierce duel in the race between the current leader of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (3 wins in 6 races) and the 2022 World Champion, only three of the eight drivers who entered the final qualifying grid on Saturday had earned the right to aim for pole position: Rowland and de Vries, but also Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kio), who had shone in free practice on Saturday morning (best time in both sessions) but could only finish 7th in the race.

Just before the start of qualifying, a heavy downpour predicted by the weather forecasters made grip conditions particularly tricky on mixed Hankook tires, which are the same for both wet and dry tracks. And just when he thought he could take his revenge for Saturday (20th), having got off to a good start on Sunday with the best time in Free Practice 3, Mitch Evans, the Kiwi from Jaguar and last year’s winner in the Principality, was ejected in Group 1 (9th), as were Lucas di Grassi (Lola-Yamaha ABT) and Norman Nato, Rowland’s team-mate at Nissan.

At the end of the second half-session, reserved for the 11 Group 2 drivers and interrupted by a crash for Sam Bird (NEOM McLaren) in Sainte Dévote, three former World Champions saved their day, in the final seconds: Sébastien Buemi (Envision), Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske) and Stoffel Vandoorne (Maserati), accompanied by Maximilian Günther (DS Penske).

They joined Rowland, de Vries and Ticktum, as well as Antonio Félix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche), all of them qualified in Group 1. In contrast, several top guns were eliminated prematurely, starting with reigning World Champion Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche) and the other Jaguar driver Nick Cassidy, as well as Saturday’s poleman Taylor Barnard (NEOM McLaren) and Jake Dennis (Andretti), the other Briton on Saturday’s podium (3rd).

The 9th edition of the Monaco E-Prix promises a final share of suspense, on Sunday from 3:04pm, for the 10th anniversary of Formula E in the Principality (first E-Prix in 2015). And Rowland, on pole position for the first time this season (his 9th pole in FE), has already triumphed twice in Monaco: in Formula 2 (in 2017, Main Race) and in Formula E, this Saturday. He will still be the leader of the series tonight. And he may add another trophy in his living room. Things always come in threes, after all?