After missing out on the final qualifying phase by five-thousandths of a second, and then dropping fighting back from 19th to seventh place on Saturday, Vergne was hungry for revenge on Sunday.
"The first race was really complicated," said the French driver. "Everyone wants to preserve their energy by staying in the pack, I was hit several times and I even spun out. At the end of the day I was happy to finish seventh, because it also showed the potential of the car."
Usually, when the set-up and performance are there on day one, the standings are not much different the next day. In addition, making the Franco-American team’s challenge even tougher was that the leading manufacturers from the beginning of the season - Porsche and Jaguar - and their satellite teams were also running at the sharp end at the first European double-header of the season.
But on Sunday morning, the rain came for qualifying, throwing up a huge uncertainty. With the grooved tyres, which are the same for dry or wet conditions, the track becomes slightly cleaner as the laps go by. The teams are playing with the pressures to try to improve the grip. In a tense first stage of qualifying, Vergne set the best time in his group, then qualified fourth on the grid. Like Vergne the day before, Vandoorne just missed out on the last eight by a tenth of a second and started ninth.
Source: Autosport