The 23-year-old French-Argentine hadn't expected to be quite so far up the sharp end ahead of just his fifth Formula E race, having clipped the wall in the Semis in the battle with Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy. He was shocked to go through and from there, he made it count - pipping Maserati MSG Racing's Maximilian Guenther in the battle to seal a first Formula E pole, and at the championship's newest circuit.
"I’m very happy," said Fenestraz. "Earlier, I didn’t think I’d be standing here. I’m happy for the team as well. It’s been a hell of a start to the season, with everyone working day and night, so hard together. Let’s keep it up. Hopefully it’s good for the race and it’s not the last one of this season.
READ MORE: The full qualifying report from Cape Town
"India was good – we were fourth in the race and then the contact from the Jaguars took us out of that. Without that, we could have scored some strong points and maybe even a podium. Now, we have pole at the race following. We get faster as the weekends go on and hopefully we continue this trend."
The ultra-quick, bumpy circuit proved a real challenge for some of Formula E's most experienced campaigners, as both Sam Bird and Edo Mortara fell foul at Turn 9 - each shunting in a big way and putting their race start in jeopardy with the resulting damage to their respective cars. Despite the challenge, Fenestraz not only sealed his first Julius Baer Pole Position but he became the second-youngest polesitter in the process - second only to Daniel Abt, who holds the record sealed back when he was 22 at Long Beach in 2015.
He eventually beati Guenther's effort by over four tenths of-a-second to set a stunning time of 1m07.848s - the fastest lap of the day, and with an average speed of 154.987km/h, the fastest lap in Formula E history.
Fenestraz had earlier defeated Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) and Hyderabad race winner Jean-Eric Vergne (DS PENSKE) on his way to pole position, and had topped Group A to find himself in the Final - a first Duels Final appearance for Nissan.