Bird beats Rosenqvist to NYC pole

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Bird beats Rosenqvist to NYC pole

Bird beats Rosenqvist to NYC pole

Sam Bird will start today’s second Qualcomm New York City ePrix from Pole Position after defeating Felix Rosenqvist by just 0.037s in a thrilling qualifying session.

Despite being drawn in Group 1, Bird was able to just do enough to make the Super Pole shoot-out, and he pulled a stunning lap out of the bag to record a time of 1:02.285s.

Rosenqvist had been second in the group stages and was fully committed on his lap, but the Mahindra star fell just short of snatching the top spot. Yesterday’s runner-up Jean-Eric Vergne will start third for TECHEETAH as he aims to take his first Formula E win.

Renault e.dams’s stand-in for the absent Sebastien Buemi, Pierre Gasly, was sensationally fastest in the group stages, but he had a big lock up on his Super Pole lap, which means he'll only start fourth.

It was a scrappy effort by Nick Heidfeld in the second Mahindra, and he lines up fifth. Maro Engel just missed out on Super Pole, so starts sixth for Venturi.

Lucas di Grassi clipped the wall and will start from ninth for Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport. Robin Frijns produced a great effort to set the 11th best time for Andretti. But his crash in free practice this morning damaged the gearbox means he’ll pick up a 10-place penalty and will start from the back of the grid. Yesterday's pole man Alex Lynn could not repeat his heroics and he was 17th fastest for DS Virgin Racing.

The race starts at the earlier time of 1pm (local time)

 

Race 2 qualifying times:

  1. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing 1:02.285
  2. Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing 1:02.322
  3. Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH 1:02.544
  4. Pierre Gasly, Renault e.dams 1:03.173
  5. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra 1:03.210
  6. Maro Engel, Venturi 1:02.579
  7. Oliver Turvey, NextEV NIO 1:02.583
  8. Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:02.688
  9. Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:02.720
  10. Tom Dillmann, Venturi 1:02.807
  11. Robin Frijns, Andretti 1:02.820
  12. Stephane Sarrazin, TECHEETAH 1:02.853
  13. Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:02.868
  14. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:02.900
  15. Nico Prost, Renault e.dams 1:03.038
  16. Nelson Piquet Jr, NextEV NIO 1:03.184
  17. Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing 1:03.224
  18. Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti 1:03.330
  19. Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:03.547
  20. Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:03.594