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New York E-Prix: Buemi takes first-race pole by huge margin

Nissan e.dams's Sebastien Buemi took a commanding third pole position of 2018/19 for New York's opener, with Formula E title contenders Jean-Eric Vergne and Lucas di Grassi qualifying mid-pack.

Sébastien Buemi, Nissan e.Dams, Nissan IMO1

Sébastien Buemi, Nissan e.Dams, Nissan IMO1

Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Buemi's latest ABB FIA FE pole position was taken by a margin of four-tenths over Mahindra Racing's Pascal Wehrlein courtesy of a 1m10.188s lap. Buemi had progressed into superpole from the second qualifying group and no driver from the first phase made it into the top-six shootout.

FE championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne had placed second in the first group, ahead of fourth-placed rival Lucas di Grassi. That was eventually converted into a 10th-place start for Vergne, with Dragon Racing's Maximilian Gunther, NIO's Tom Dillmann and Jaguar Racing's Mitch Evans splitting the two title contenders and leaving di Grassi down in 14th.

Di Grassi's teammate Daniel Abt made into superpole and took fourth on the grid. Jaguar's Alex Lynn impressed with his best qualifying result since his FE comeback in third, losing out to Mahindra Racing's Pascal Wehrlein by just 0.096s.

Alexander Sims and Sam Bird both made errors on their superpole runs with both drivers struggling for traction on the exit of the first corner. 

But Bird's slow first sector as he battled the car proved costly, even with a rapid final sector, and he placed sixth behind the BMW driver. 

Jose Maria Lopez lost out to Lynn in the battle to make superpole, with the Jaguar Racing driver's 1m10.669s lap enough to take fifth and secure his spot for the one-lap shootout. That meant Lopez was demoted to seventh on the grid ahead of BMW Andretti's Antonio Felix da Costa and Envision Virgin Racing's Robin Frijns.

Gary Paffett out-qualified his HWA teammate Stoffel Vandoorne to take 15th, with the ex-Formula 1 driver four places further back after drifting out of the final corner when trying to make up for a loss of time earlier in his push lap.

DS Techeetah's Andre Lotterer was 16th ahead of Edoardo Mortara (Venturi) and Oliver Turvey (NIO).

A slow middle sector for Oliver Rowland, losing around one second, resigned his Nissan e.dams machine to 20th on the grid ahead of Venturi's Felipe Massa. Jerome D'Ambrosio will start from the back of the grid after losing time behind Abt in the group two running before a spin at the Turn 10 hairpin lost him swathes of time.

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