Qualifying report
Formula E New York ePrix
New York ePrix: Lynn takes sensational pole on debut
Alex Lynn claimed a stunning debut Formula E pole position for the electric single-seater series’ first race in New York.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: Jul 15, 2017, 5:49 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The DS Virgin Racing driver, standing in for Jose Maria Lopez, beat Daniel Abt to triumph in the pole position shootout by two tenths of a second around the Brooklyn circuit.
Lynn was quickest in a damp FP1 on his FE debut, and carried that pace into qualifying by making it into the superpole at the first attempt.
Abt nailed a front row start by edging Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne by just 0.003s, with Lynn’s teammate Sam Bird a further 0.020s back.
Jerome d’Ambrosio gave the beleaguered Faraday Future Dragon Racing squad something to cheer at its home race with the team’s first superpole appearance of the season.
After setting the second-best time in the group stage a mistake at the start of his lap immediately consigned d’Ambrosio to the slowest superpole time, although fifth is still the team’s best starting position of the campaign.
While Lynn celebrated a shock pole, his fellow rookie Pierre Gasly, parachuted in for championship leader Sebastien Buemi at Renault with no preparation, fared less well.
He was slowest of the five runners in the opening group and will line up 19th, only spared qualifying last by a problem for Maro Engel that stopped the Venturi driver on track before he set a 200kW lap.
Behind the superpole runners, Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet Jr, Oliver Turvey, Nico Prost and Lucas di Grassi completed the top 10.
Di Grassi complained of a yellow flag, thrown for Engel’s stopped car, on his flying lap, but his poor grid position will be music to the ears of the absent Buemi, who like Lopez is on Toyota LMP1 duty at the Nurburgring World Endurance Championship round.
Another driver hoping to take advantage of the missing points leader is Felix Rosenqvist, but the Berlin race winner will start the opening race towards the back of the grid.
Rosenqvist topped FP2 but a lurid slide at Turn 1, the hairpin that is located halfway round the qualifying lap thanks to offset timing beams, cost him time on his qualifying flier and left him 17th.
Superpole times
ClaDriverTeamTimeGap 1 
Alex Lynn Virgin Racing 1'03.296 2 
Daniel Abt Team Abt 1'03.534 0.238 3 
Jean-Eric Vergne 
Techeetah 1'03.537 0.241 4 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1'03.557 0.261 5 
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 
Dragon Racing 1'07.203 3.907
Qualifying times
ClaDriverTeamTimeGap 1 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1'02.806 2 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 1'02.881 0.075 3 Daniel Abt Team Abt 1'02.888 0.082 4 Alex Lynn Virgin Racing 1'03.009 0.203 5 Jean-Eric Vergne Techeetah 1'03.091 0.285 6 Nick Heidfeld 
Mahindra Racing 1'03.193 0.387 7 
Nelson Piquet Jr. NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team 1'03.361 0.555 8 Oliver Turvey NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team 1'03.385 0.579 9 Nicolas Prost DAMS 1'03.433 0.627 10 Lucas di Grassi Team Abt 1'03.480 0.674 11 Stéphane Sarrazin Techeetah 1'03.508 0.702 12 Loic Duval Dragon Racing 1'03.521 0.715 13 Adam Carroll Jaguar Racing 1'03.555 0.749 14 
Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing 1'03.637 0.831 15 Tom Dillmann 
Venturi 1'03.795 0.989 16 
Robin Frijns Andretti Autosport 1'03.830 1.024 17 
Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Racing 1'04.300 1.494 18 
Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti Autosport 1'04.585 1.779 19 Pierre Gasly DAMS 1'04.936 2.130 20 Maro Engel Venturi 1'17.571 14.765
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article New York ePrix: Rosenqvist and Lynn top practice sessions
Next article New York ePrix: Bird beats Vergne in first-ever Brooklyn race
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Alex Lynn
Ricky Taylor drafted in at Jota Cadillac as WEC unveils Austin entry list
WEC
WEC
Ricky Taylor drafted in at Jota Cadillac as WEC unveils Austin entry list
WEC Sao Paulo win proves "sky is the limit" for Cadillac, says Alex Lynn
WEC
WEC
Interlagos
WEC Sao Paulo win proves "sky is the limit" for Cadillac, says Alex Lynn
Why Cadillac’s Alex Lynn "waited 12 months" for 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Why Cadillac’s Alex Lynn "waited 12 months" for 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying
More from
Envision Racing
Sebastien Buemi not ruling out Formula E comeback: “I don’t want to close any doors”
Formula E
Formula E
Sebastien Buemi not ruling out Formula E comeback: “I don’t want to close any doors”
Sebastien Buemi to leave Formula E after 12 seasons
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix I
Sebastien Buemi to leave Formula E after 12 seasons
Sebastien Buemi criticises Berlin Formula E “convoy” racing as “too much”
Formula E
Formula E
Berlin ePrix II
Sebastien Buemi criticises Berlin Formula E “convoy” racing as “too much”
Latest news
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 10 min
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
36 min
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
52 min
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe