Santiago ePrix: Vergne edges out Buemi for pole
Jean-Eric Vergne has secured pole position for the Santiago ePrix, while Formula E championship leader Felix Rosenqvist will only start 14th.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah
Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Vergne was only fourth-fastest in the group stage before all-but-replicating his laptime in the Super Pole, which proved enough to beat Sebastien Buemi to pole by 0.194 seconds.
Lucas di Grassi qualified third-fastest, but the reigning champion will start 13th after a 10-place grid penalty for a pre-event inverter change on one of his Audi Sport Abt cars.
That promotes Andre Lotterer to third and Sam Bird to fourth, with second-row starts the best both drivers could manage after mistakes in Super Pole.
Lotterer was quickest in the group stage, comfortably his most impressive performance in FE so far, but crashed at Turn 1 on his Super Pole lap and broke the front wing.
He crawled round to the finish, 27s off the pace, but that was enough to earn third because Bird failed to complete his lap.
The Briton lost the rear of his DS Virgin Racing car on the entry to the long Turn 5/6 double-right, and backed it square into the barriers.
Nelson Piquet Jr missed out on a first Super Pole appearance with Jaguar by a tenth, but secured his best starting position of the season with fifth after di Grassi’s penalty.
Alex Lynn, Oliver Turvey, Nico Prost, Jose Maria Lopez and Daniel Abt complete the top 10.
Di Grassi drops to one place ahead of championship leader Rosenqvist, who had a terrible session.
Rosenqvist, who had a couple of trips down the escape road in practice, put in a scruffy opening sector and was only 14th-fastest.
He will start nine places behind his nearest pursuer Bird, who trails him by just four points in the championship.
Nick Heidfeld compounded Mahindra’s misery by qualifying 15th.
The session’s most costly errors came from Luca Filippi and Mitch Evans, who both visited the Turn 3 escape road and will start 19th and 20th as a result.
Qualifying results:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Techeetah | 1'19.161 | |
2 | Sébastien Buemi | DAMS | 1'19.355 | 0.194 |
3 | Lucas di Grassi | Team Abt | 1'19.673 | 0.512 |
4 | Andre Lotterer | Techeetah | 1'46.429 | 27.268 |
5 | Sam Bird | Virgin Racing | no time | |
6 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Jaguar Racing | 1'19.300 | 0.139 |
7 | Alex Lynn | Virgin Racing | 1'19.447 | 0.286 |
8 | Oliver Turvey | NIO Formula E Team | 1'19.574 | 0.413 |
9 | Nicolas Prost | DAMS | 1'19.623 | 0.462 |
10 | Jose Maria Lopez | Dragon Racing | 1'19.662 | 0.501 |
11 | Daniel Abt | Team Abt | 1'19.726 | 0.565 |
12 | Maro Engel | Venturi | 1'19.877 | 0.716 |
13 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Dragon Racing | 1'19.923 | 0.762 |
14 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mahindra Racing | 1'19.984 | 0.823 |
15 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra Racing | 1'20.012 | 0.851 |
16 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Andretti Autosport | 1'20.132 | 0.971 |
17 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | 1'20.157 | 0.996 |
18 | Tom Blomqvist | Andretti Autosport | 1'20.422 | 1.261 |
19 | Luca Filippi | NIO Formula E Team | 1'31.271 | 12.110 |
20 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | 1'40.540 | 21.379 |
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