It was a second successive pole for Renault’s Sebastien Buemi in a damp FIA Formula E Championship qualifying on Sunday leading Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer and Jean-Eric Vergne.
Group 1
After a wet practice session, qualifying also started under damp conditions in the New York ePrix with Andretti’s Stephane Sarrazin topping the group with a 1m19.017s laptime from Venturi’s Tom Dillmann (1m19.365s).
Dillmann who impressed with his performance in Saturday’s race would have improved on his time but his off in Turn 1 meant it was too much to do in the second and final sector. NIO’s Luca Filippi was third with 1m19.454s laptime.
In fourth was Renault’s Nico Prost on his last qualifying appearance for the French out with a 1m19.529s with NIO’s Ma Qing Hua (1m26.086s) only fifth after the Chinese driver – the replacement for Oliver Turvey – crashed out on his 200kW lap.
Group 2
The second group drivers were in an advantageous position as the track started to dry out meaning all the five drivers managed to beat the Group 1 drivers at ease. It was Saturday’s winner Lucas di Grassi (1m17.867s) in his Audi finishing on top.
Renault’s Buemi slotted in second with a 1m18.139s in a Audi sandwich with Daniel Abt (1m18.432s) in third from the newly crowned Formula E champion Techeetah’s Vergne (1m18.571s) and DS Virgin’s Sam Bird (1m18.794s).
Group 3
After the second group drivers improved on their times, it seemed like the Group 3 drivers will show a much better improvement on drying conditions but it wasn’t to be as none of the drivers troubled the Top 5 in Superpole.
The Dragon Racing pair of Jose Maria Lopez (1m19.114s) and Jerome D’Ambrosio (1m19.124s) led the way in the group with Venturi’s Maro Engel (1m19.540s) some way behind them along with DS Virgin’s Alex Lynn (1m18.658s).
The British driver though will drop 10 places for a gearbox change. Meanwhile, Andretti’s Antonio Felix da Costa couldn’t set a lap time as his car wouldn’t start. He said he reported of a gearbox issue at the end of practice but the team couldn’t find any problem.
Group 4
With no improvements from the drivers in Group 3, it seemed like it will be difficult for the drivers in the final group as well to make into the Top 5 for a Superpole fight. However, Techeetah’s Lotterer had different thoughts.
The German topped his group with a time of 1m18.315s and was the only one to make it into the pole fight with Jaguar Racing pair Mitch Evans (1m18.580s) and Nelson Piquet (1m18.704s) in second and third but just outside the Top 5.
The Mahindra Racing pair of Felix Rosenqvist (1m18.828s) and Nick Heidfeld (1m19.168s) were the only ones who could have made it into superpole battle but a twitch from the Swede on his quick lap meant he was fourth with Heidfeld fifth in the group.
Superpole
First up in the fight for pole was champion Vergne who did a good lap of 1m18.031s despite having some twitchy moments. His time though was not beaten by Abt (1m18.145s) who went second in the group.
Going third, Lotterer was in a different mood as he took provisional pole by 0.018s after his time of 1m18.013s. But his moment of happiness lived short as Buemi toppled him with a 1m17.973s – going up by 0.040s on Lotterer’s time.
A stroke of luck for Buemi gave him his second successive pole in New York after the final runner di Grassi ran wide and brushed the wall on his quick lap to end up only fifth – which means neither Audi or Techeetah would score any bonus points.
Positions 6-20: Evans, Piquet, Bird, Rosenqvist, Sarrazin, Lopez, D’Ambrosio, Heidfeld, Dillmann, Filippi, Prost, Engel, Lynn, Ma and da Costa.