Di Grassi on pole in Buenos Aires

Lucas di Grassi claimed the first Julius Baer Pole Position of his Formula E career following a dramatic Super Pole shoot-out in Buenos Aires.

After ending the group stages in third place, di Grassi delivered when it mattered to set a strong lap of 1:09.454, which none of his rivals were able to beat.

With all the drivers struggling with locking brakes – especially into the tricky Turn 7 – it was a case of not making a mistake as much as going as fast as possible.

Jean-Eric Vergne was fastest in the group stages for the second race in a row, setting a scorching time of 1:08.7, but he was unable to replicate that pace in Super Pole and will start second.

Championship leader Sebastien Buemi is third, ahead of NextEV NIO team-mates Oliver Turvey and Nelson Piquet Jr, who both had huge lock-ups during their flying laps.

Quickest of the non-Super Pole runners was Nico Prost, who will start sixth ahead of the star of qualifying, Mitch Evans, who gave Panasonic Jaguar Racing its first top 10 qualifying position with an excellent run to seventh.

Felix Rosenqvist couldn’t repeat his Marrakesh heroics and lines up eighth, while Jerome D’Ambrosio starts ninth. Last year’s pole man and winner Sam Bird could get heat into his tyres and completes the top 10.

It was even worse for his DS Virgin Racing team-mate Jose Maria Lopez, who was on course to set the fastest lap of the session so far when he clipped the wall on the exit of Turn 7 and broke the rear suspension.

He starts 18th for his home race, which begins at 4pm local time.

Qualifying times: BA ePrix

  1. Lucas di Grassi Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:09.404
  2. Jean-Eric Vergne TECHEETAH 1:09.598
  3. Sebastien Buemi Renault e.dams 1:09.825
  4. Oliver Turvey NextEV NIO 1:10.075
  5. Nelson Piquet Jr NextEV NIO 1:11.274
  6. Nico Prost Renault e.dams 1:09.442
  7. Mitch Evans Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:09.505
  8. Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Racing 1:09.681
  9. Jerome D'Ambrosio Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:09.697
  10. Sam Bird DS Virgin Racing 1:09.839
  11. Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1:10.100
  12. Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Racing 1:10.152
  13. Robin Frijns Andretti 1:10.172
  14. Loic Duval Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:10.257
  15. Adam Carroll Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:10.946
  16. Daniel Abt Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:13.284
  17. Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti 1:13.326
  18. Jose Maria Lopez DS Virgin Racing 1:16.760
  19. Ma Qing Hua TECHEETAH 1:22.405
  20. Maro Engel Venturi 1:44.239

Published on 18th February 2017