Sam Bird claims a fantastic pole position at the Marrakesh e-Prix. The British driver, coming from qualifying group 3, has managed to que quickest in both regular qualifying and superpole and has beaten the dominant Techeetah, BMW and Nissan cars.
The second qualifying session of the season got underway on a sunny and dusty conditions in Marrakesh. The championship leaders were the first group to make their quali laps. Antonio Félix Da Costa put his BMW into provisional lead while Andre Lotterer soon became one of the disappointments of the day as he made a mistake which cost him any chance to set a good laptime.
There were some pole contenders as well in group 2. Both Audi drivers and Oliver Rowland, however, did not perform well and were only able to surpass Lotterer. Nelsinho Piquet moved up to fifth and left Jerome D’Ambrosio out of the superpole fight while Sébastien Buemi put himself on the lead.
Group 3 only granted a relevant time in terms of the superpole fight. It was set by Sam Bird, who set the fastest time so far. Stoffel Vandoorne was also on his way to set the fastest lap, but his HWA suddenly stopped on track. Maximilian Günther also had issues as he clipped the wall and missed the chance to set a proper laptime.
The last drivers to go on track also changed the superpole positions as Pascal Wehrlein improved to sixth place and denied Robin Frijns’ chances. But the German also missed the oportunity of fighting for a Pole on his very debut as Alexander Sims moved up to third place.
The final fight for the pole position was very tight, except for Mitch Evans, who made a mistake and ended up with an awful laptime. It was finally Bird who took Pole, followed closely by Jean-Éric Vergne, Da Costa, Buemi, Sims and Evans. Wehrlein, Frijns, Piquet and D’Ambrosio completed the Top 10.
The Marrakesh e-Prix race will begin today at 4PM local time.