Buemi to start from pole position in Buenos Aires ePrix

Sebastien Buemi (e.dams-Renault) will start from the front of the grid for the Buenos Aires ePrix as he clinched his first pole position in Formula E.

Buemi, the winner last time out in Punta del Este, was the first man to set a time in the opening qualifying group and remained fastest throughout the session. 

Buemi said: “I’m really happy, but this is just the start, now I need to finish here. It was hard to say how the track would respond, we’ve seen previously it has got quicker as it rubbers in but you never know. In that session the battery temperature wasn’t an issue but it could be in the race. Strategy for each driver will be key.”

Virgin Racing’s Jaime Alguersuari narrowly missed out on pole position ending up 0.027s behind Buemi.

Alguersuari said: “It’s all about understanding what is going on. We’ve done some big changes which really worked but we’re still not where we want to be. Now we need to focus on the race and ensure we have no issues with the minimum pitstop time again.”

Nick Heidfeld (Venturi) will line up third ahead of Sam Bird (Virgin Racing) who bounced back from a disappointing performance in Uruguay to start fourth.

Heidfeld said: “I’m very happy with this result as we’ve struggled previously. When they told me on the radio I was P3 I was very surprised. I just hope now we can have a clean race and a good result.”

Championship leader Lucas di Grassi will start fifth, despite bringing out the red flag in the second group when he crashed at the exit of Turn 6. The Audi Sport ABT driver ran wide and hit the wall damaging the front-right corner of his car.

Andretti driver Jean-Eric Vergne couldn’t repeat his qualifying performance from the previous race and will start sixth after running deep at Turn 4 on his final run.

Buemi’s team-mate and two-time polesitter, Nicolas Prost, will start seventh alongside Antonio Felix da Costa (Amlin Aguri).

China Racing’s Nelson Piquet Jr. sits in ninth place with Karun Chandhok rounding out the top 10 for Mahindra Racing.

Jarno Trulli will start from the back of the grid after crashing at Turn 6 and failing to set a representative time.

Follow the 2015 Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix on www.fiaformulae.com or via the official Formula E app from 16:00 (GMT -3)

FIA Formula E Championship – Buenos Aires ePrix (Rd 4) – Qualifying results:

  1. Sebastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, 1:09.134s
  2. Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, 1:09.161s 
  3. Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, 1:09.367s
  4. Sam Bird, Virgin Racing, 1:09.388s
  5. Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT, 1:09.521s
  6. Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti, 1:09.527s
  7. Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, 1:09.636s
  8. Antonio Felix da Costa, Amlin Aguri, 1:09.658s 
  9. Nelson Piquet Jr, China Racing, 1:09.742s
  10. Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing, 1:09.875s
  11. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, 1:10.165s 
  12. Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, 1:10.329s
  13. Oriol Servia, Dragon, 1:10.588s
  14. Marco Andretti, Andretti, 1:10.713s
  15. Ho-Pin Tung, China Racing, 1:11.049s
  16. Salvador Duran, Amlin Aguri, 1:11.331s
  17. Michela Cerruti, Trulli, 1:11.785s
  18. Jerome d’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, 1:12.239s
  19. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, 1:13.209s
  20. Jarno Trulli, Trulli, no time set

Published on 10th January 2015

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