Qualifying report
Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix
Buenos Aires ePrix: Di Grassi takes maiden Formula E pole
Lucas di Grassi topped a chaotic qualifying session to take his first ever Formula E pole position at Buenos Aires ahead of Saturday's race.
Sam Smith
Edited: May 5, 2021, 4:28 PM
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The Brazilian set a time of 1m09.404s in his ABT Schaeffler FE02 car to head Jean-Eric Vergne, who looked as if he would take the top spot in the final moments of the session.
The French driver’s front-row start makes up for a litany of errors from his Techeetah team during the first two races of the season, as he converted his Renault powertrain’s pace into a time just 0.194s slower than di Grassi.
“It is a great moment and not something I expected,” said di Grassi afterwards. “It is important after the first two races to get pole here, almost on home ground for me.”
Championship leader Sebastien Buemi lost time in the first sector of his Super Pole lap by locking his brakes. The Swiss ultimately paid the price, and slipped behind di Grassi and Vergne to start third.
The NEXTEV N10 pair of Oliver Turvey and Nelson Piquet start fourth and fifth. Both lost significant time on their Super Pole laps with major lock-ups at Turns 7 and 1 respectively.
Nicolas Prost was the fastest qualifier who didn’t make the Super Pole session, and so starts sixth in his Renault e.dams entry.
The top 10 is filled out by Mitch Evans (Jaguar), Felix Rosenqvist (Mahindra), Jerome d’Ambrosio (Dragon) and Sam Bird (DS Virgin).
Evans topped his qualifying group with a 1m09.505s lap in the Jaguar I-Type 1, securing the British marque's best ever starting position of seventh. Teammate Adam Carroll starts from 15th position.
Last year's Buenos Aires ePrix victor Sam Bird had a self-confessed ‘scrappy lap’ due to his DS Virgin car struggling to achieve optimum grip levels, and could no do better than 10th.
There was disappointment for Bird’s teammate Jose Maria Lopez, who tagged the Turn 5 wall during his group qualifying lap.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the local man, as he was in line to make it in to Super Pole after setting the fastest overall sector one time. The incident necessitated the only red flag of the group sessions and anchored the Argentinian to a lowly 18th.
Antonio Felix da Costa’s wretched day continued as he damaged the front right of his Andretti ATEC-02 before he had even started his qualifying lap. The Portuguese starts from 17th on the grid.
Several drivers didn’t set representative times. In addition to Lopez and Da Costa, Daniel Abt and Ma Qing Hua also suffered damage after tagging the wall.
Maro Engel meanwhile failed to complete his qualifying lap after losing power in his Venturi VM200-FE-02 and stopping on the track, meaning he brings up the rear of the 20-car field.
Qualifying results
Cla#DriverTeamTimeGapkm/h 1 11 
Lucas di Grassi 
Team Abt 1'09.084 129.181 2 25 
Jean-Eric Vergne 
Techeetah 1'08.751 129.807 3 9 
Sébastien Buemi DAMS 1'09.018 129.305 4 88 
Oliver Turvey NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team 1'09.314 0.230 128.753 5 3 Nelson Piquet Jr. NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team 1'09.383 0.299 128.625 6 8 Nicolas Prost DAMS 1'09.442 0.358 128.515 7 20 
Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing 1'09.505 0.421 128.399 8 19 
Felix Rosenqvist 
Mahindra Racing 1'09.681 0.597 128.075 9 7 
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 
Dragon Racing 1'09.697 0.613 128.045 10 2 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1'09.839 0.755 127.785 11 4 Stéphane Sarrazin 
Venturi 1'10.100 1.016 127.309 12 23 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Racing 1'10.152 1.068 127.215 13 27 
Robin Frijns Andretti Autosport 1'10.172 1.088 127.178 14 6 Loic Duval Dragon Racing 1'10.257 1.173 127.025 15 47 Adam Carroll Jaguar Racing 1'10.946 1.862 125.791 16 66 Daniel Abt Team Abt 1'13.284 4.200 121.778 17 28 
Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Autosport 1'13.326 4.242 121.708 18 5 Maro Engel Venturi 1'44.239 35.155 85.614 19 33 Ma Qing Hua Techeetah 1'22.405 13.321 108.299 20 37 
Jose Maria Lopez Virgin Racing 1'16.760 7.676 116.263
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