London ePrix: Buemi takes crucial pole, di Grassi third

In the superpole showdown, Buemi was last on track having set the quickest time during the group stages - which, unlike on Saturday, were all held in totally dry conditions.

And the Swiss driver produced a flawless tour of the Battersea Park circuit, a 1m22.033s, to take the top spot on the starting grid and the three points that come with it.

Buemi will have Renault e.dams Nicolas Prost alongside him on the front row, the Frenchman lapping slightly slower than he had managed in the group stages with a 1m22.948s.

That was enough to beat di Grassi by just 0.027s in the battle for second on the grid, despite the Brazilian improving by three tenths compared to his earlier effort.

Oliver Turvey was a remarkable fourth in the NEXTEV TCR car, albeit 1.6s off the pace of Buemi in superpole, with Nick Heidfeld's Mahindra completing the top five a further 1.1s behind.

Daniel Abt will start sixth, missing out on a place in superpole by a tenth and a half thanks to Turvey's sensational effort in the fourth and final qualifying group.

Jean-Eric Vergne was seventh fastest ahead of DS Virgin teammate Sam Bird, while outgoing champion Nelson Piquet Jr and Loic Duval complete the top 10, having set times 0.001s apart.

With Buemi and di Grassi tied on points, Sunday's race will be a winner-takes-all affair - although di Grassi would win on countback should both men fail to score points.

Qualifying results:

P.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Sébastien Buemi	Renault e.dams	1:22.033
2	Nicolas Prost	Renault e.dams	1:22.948
3	Lucas di Grassi	ABT Audi Sport	1:22.975
4	Oliver Turvey	NEXTEV TCR	1:23.685
5	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra Racing	1:24.827
6	Daniel Abt	ABT Audi Sport	1:23.494
7	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Virgin Racing	1:23.783
8	Sam Bird	DS Virgin Racing	1:23.930
9	Nelson Piquet Jr.	NEXTEV TCR	1:23.937
10	Loïc Duval	Dragon Racing	1:23.938
11	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:23.952
12	Mike Conway	Venturi	1:24.054
13	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	1:24.171
14	António Félix da Costa	Team Aguri	1:24.273
15	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi	1:24.311
16	Robin Frijns	Andretti Autosport	1:24.655
17	Simona de Silvestro	Andretti Autosport	1:24.823
18	Ma Qing Hua	Team Aguri	1:26.259