Punta ePrix: Di Grassi on pole, but under investigation
Lucas di Grassi provisionally scored his first Formula E pole position of the 2017/18 season in Punta del Este, but is under investigation.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The Audi driver was one of three drivers in Super Pole to attract the attention of the stewards for cutting the Turn 14/15 chicane and hitting the bollard, along with Oliver Turvey and Alex Lynn.
Reigning champion di Grassi posted a 1m13.948s to beat DS Virgin driver Lynn, who damaged his front wing by clouting the bollard on his 200kW lap, for the top spot by 0.241s.
Mitch Evans was third-fastest for Jaguar, albeit nearly half a second slower than Lynn - but fastest of those to avoid hitting the bollard - after brushing the barriers on his fastest lap.
NIO driver Turvey was fourth ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, who topped the group stages with a blistering time of 1m13.672s but was slowest in Super Pole after making a mistake at the first chicane and damaging his Techeetah car against the wall.
Quickest of those missing out on a place in Super Pole was Santiago winner Daniel Abt, who missed out on a spot in the top five by 0.043s after setting only the third-best time in group three.
Abt will start sixth, ahead of leading Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi, Techeetah's Andre Lotterer, Venturi's Maro Engel and the second DS Virgin car of Sam Bird, who in his own words had a "woeful" first sector on his 200kW lap.
Title contender Felix Rosenqvist also struggled after clipping the barriers on his hot lap in the final group, the Mahindra driver ending up down in 14th place.
Starting at the back will be three drivers who crashed out in the group stages: Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet Jr and Nicolas Prost.
Heidfeld caused a red flag in the third group when he buried his Mahindra in the barriers at the Turn 17/18 chicane; Prost broke his steering on a bollard and then hit the wall at Turn 14/15 in his Renault e.dams car in the second group, and Piquet crashed his Jaguar at Turn 10/11 in the final group.
Qualifying results:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lucas di Grassi | Team Abt | 1'13.948 | |
2 | Alex Lynn | Virgin Racing | 1'14.189 | 0.241 |
3 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | 1'14.640 | 0.692 |
4 | Oliver Turvey | NIO Formula E Team | 1'14.978 | 1.030 |
5 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Techeetah | 1'16.806 | 2.858 |
6 | Daniel Abt | Team Abt | 1'14.224 | 0.276 |
7 | Sébastien Buemi | DAMS | 1'14.320 | 0.372 |
8 | Andre Lotterer | Techeetah | 1'14.442 | 0.494 |
9 | Maro Engel | Venturi | 1'14.523 | 0.575 |
10 | Sam Bird | Virgin Racing | 1'14.552 | 0.604 |
11 | Jose Maria Lopez | Dragon Racing | 1'14.605 | 0.657 |
12 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Dragon Racing | 1'14.673 | 0.725 |
13 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Andretti Autosport | 1'14.973 | 1.025 |
14 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mahindra Racing | 1'15.104 | 1.156 |
15 | Luca Filippi | NIO Formula E Team | 1'15.444 | 1.496 |
16 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | 1'15.493 | 1.545 |
17 | Tom Blomqvist | Andretti Autosport | 1'16.424 | 2.476 |
18 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra Racing | 1'31.701 | 17.753 |
19 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Jaguar Racing | 1'42.656 | 28.708 |
20 | Nicolas Prost | DAMS | 1'53.358 | 39.410 |
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