Qualifying report
Formula E Punta del Este ePrix
Punta ePrix: D'Ambrosio leads Dragon front-row lockout
Jerome D'Ambrosio took a surprise maiden Formula E pole in qualifying for the Punta del Este ePrix, leading Dragon Racing teammate Loic Duval as Sebastien Buemi ran wide on his hot lap.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Dec 19, 2015, 4:34 PM
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Ex-Virgin Formula 1 driver D'Ambrosio was the third driver to set a lap in the final Super Pole session, beating Duval by 0.377s to take provisional pole on a 1m15.498s.
Lucas di Grassi (Abt Audi Sport) was next up, but backed off at the end of an untidy lap to go fourth behind DS Virgin's Sam Bird, before Buemi forfeited any chance of making it three poles in a row when he ran wide at Turn 8 on his flying lap.
The Swiss driver will start fifth, one place ahead of Renault e.dams teammate Nicolas Prost, who missed out on a Super Pole berth by just over a tenth.
Daniel Abt will start seventh, ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa, Bruno Senna and Oliver Turvey.
Story of the session
Turvey was the man to beat in the opening group, setting an early benchmark of 1m16.154s, but the NEXTEV TCR driver was quickly shuffled down the order when the second group took to the track.
In Group 2, di Grassi went fastest on a 1m15.115s, beating D’Ambrosio by three tenths as Bird moved into third ahead of Prost and Turvey.
Group 3 was topped by Duval, the Audi WEC driver slotting in third, six tenths off the pace, as Abt and da Costa narrowly missed out on top five slots.
It was then Prost’s turn to be demoted from the Super Pole positions in the final group, as Buemi went fastest of all on a 1m15.011s.
That was over a second clear of nearest challenger Senna, while Jacques Villeneuve put his Venturi machine in the barriers – compromising Simona de Silvestro’s lap in the process.
Also hitting trouble was Jean-Eric Vergne, who blew any chance of a strong grid position at the track where he took pole on his Formula E debut a year ago by cutting a chicane during his hot lap in Group 1 - and was then badly baulked by Nathanael Berthon.
Formula E debutant Oliver Rowland very nearly put his Mahindra in the wall on his flying lap in Group 3, and will line up 16th ahead of Vergne and Villeneuve.
Qualifying results:
PosDriverTeamTime 1 
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 
Dragon Racing 1:15.498 2 
Loic Duval Dragon Racing 1:15.875 3 
Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1:16.109 4 
Lucas di Grassi 
Audi Sport Team Abt 1:16.635 5 
Sébastien Buemi DAMS 1:19.811 6 Nicolas Prost DAMS 1:15.913 7 Daniel Abt Audi Sport Team Abt 1:15.993 8 
Antonio Felix da Costa 
Team Aguri 1:16.014 9 Bruno Senna 
Mahindra Racing 1:16.048 10 Oliver Turvey 
China Racing 1:16.154 11 
Robin Frijns Andretti Autosport 1:16.255 12 Nelson Piquet Jr. China Racing 1:16.300 13 Stéphane Sarrazin 
Venturi 1:16.353 14 Nathanael Berthon Team Aguri 1:17.573 15 Simona de Silvestro Andretti Autosport 1:18.281 16 Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing 1:19.414 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Virgin Racing 1:19.946 18 
Jacques Villeneuve Venturi No time
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