BMW Andretti’s Alexander Sims scored 2018/19 FIA Formula E Championship’s season final pole in New York EPrix from Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns.
Group 1
The first part of Formula E qualifying in the 2018/19 finale in New York had Nissan e.Dams starting with a best lap of 1m10.003s as Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans slotted in second with a 1m10.063s ahead of another contender Audi’s Lucas di Grassi (1m10.255s).
Championship leader DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne was only fourth with a 1m10.278s – more importantly, he was behind all of his title rivals, with BMW Andretti’s Antonio da Costa (1m10.369s) lining in fifth to complete the first group.
Group 2
The second group changed the order as Audi’s Daniel Abt went quickest with a 1m09.902s ahead of the two Envision Virgin drivers with Robin Frijns (1m09.912s) leading Sam Bird (1m09.925s) in the front of the field.
Buemi, Evans and di Grassi hung on with Mahindra Racing’s Jerome D’Ambrosio (1m10.504s) only ninth from DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer (1m10.699s) – the German not making it into Super Pole like teammate Vergne.
Group 3
The order changed after the third group as BMW Andretti’s Alexander Sims went quickest with a 1m09.690s with HWA Racelab’s Stoffel Vandoorne with him in second from Abt, Frijns, Bird and Buemi in the Top 6 in the fight for pole.
Nissan e.Dams’ Oliver Rowland (1m10.052s) just missed on the fight in seventh with Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara (1m10.217s) in ninth, while Mahindra’s Pascal Wehrlein (1m10.574s) was 14th as Venturi’s Felipe Massa (1m19.831s) spun to be only 16th.
Group 4
The final group had no change at the front of the field with HWA Racelab’s Gary Paffett (1m10.155s) slotting in ninth with GEOX Dragon’s Jose Maria Lopez (1m10.352s) in 13th with NIO’s Oliver Turvey (1m10.439s) doing well in 15th.
His NIO teammate Tom Dillmann (1m10.573s) was 17th with GEOX Dragon’s Maximilian Gunther (1m10.653s) in 19th and Jaguar Racing’s Alex Lynn (1m12.537s) in 21st.
Super Pole
The fight for the last pole of 2018/19 Formula E season started with Nissan e.Dams’ Buemi setting a 1m09.729s banker lap and he stayed in front with Envision Virgin’s Bird slotting in second with a 1m09.895s but the Swiss racer’s provisional pole was broken.
Envision Virgin’s Frijns went quickest with a 1m09.712s as Audi’s Abt slotted in fourth with a 1m10.096s lap but HWA Racelab’s Vandoorne beat him to take the position with a 1m09.994s but BMW Andretti’s Sims went quickest with a 1m09.617s.
The British driver took pole for the final EPrix in New York ahead of Frijns – his Formula E career’s first – as remarkably BMW Andretti started the 2018/19 Formula E season with a pole and ended it with it, to make it two for the outfit.
Results: Sims, Frijns, Buemi, Bird, Vandoorne, Abt, Rowland, Evans, Paffett, Mortara, di Grassi, Vergne, Lopez, da Costa, Turvey, D’Ambrosio, Dillmann, Wehrlein, Gunther, Lotterer, Lynn, Massa.
