Nissan e.Dams’ Sebastien Buemi secured FIA Formula E Championship pole for Saturday’s New York ePrix ahead of Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein.
Group 1
The first part of New York Formula E qualifying for Saturday’s race has Audi’s Lucas di Grassi, Jagur Racing’s Mitch Evans, DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne, BMW Andretti’s Antonio Felix da Costa and DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer.
It was a close fight with da Costa leading after his 1m10.845s lap which only 88 thousandths ahead of Formula E championship leader Vergne (1m10.933s). Evans (1m11.065s) was third from contender di Grassi (1m11.080s) and Lotterer (1m11.222s).
Group 2
The second group had Buemi, Mahindra’s Jerome D’Ambrosio, Audi’s Daniel Abt, Envision Virgin’s Bird and Robin Frijns. Buemi set the best time of 1m10.556s with Bird (1m10.588s) in second and Abt (1m10.761s) third.
Frijns (1m10.854s), meanwhile, slotted in fifth as majority from the first group were bumped out along with D’Ambrioso (1m18.262s), who spun on his last try for a good lap, leaving the Belgian driver in a difficult position.
Group 3
Moving to the second leg of the groups, the third one had Nissan e.Dams’ Oliver Rowland, BMW Andretti’s Alexander Sims – who set the better time in Free Practice – Wehrlein, Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara, HWA Racelab’s Vandoorne and Venturi’s Felipe Massa.
Wehrlein (1m10.589s) was quickest of the lot, as he slotted in third place. He was soon followed by Sims (1m10.590s) in fourth as the others struggled with Mortara (1m11.326s) 12th led Vandoorne (1m11.449s), Rowland (1m11.605s) and Massa (1m14.862s).
Group 4
The last group had GEOX Dragon’s Jose Maria Lopez, Jagur’s Alex Lynn, HWA Racelab’s Paffett, GEOX Dragon’s Maximilian Gunther and both NIO drivers Tom Dillmann and Oliver Turvey. After a very tricky session, Lynn (1m10.669s) was quickest to be fifth.
Both Paffett (1m11.095s) and Lopez (1m10.836s) struggled but the latter was seventh with the former in 15th. Gunther (1m11.005s) slotted in 11th with Dillmann (1m11.006s) 12th and Turvey (1m11.413s) ending up 18th.
Super Pole
After the conclusion of the four groups, Bird, Lynn, Buemi, Sims, Abt, and Wehrlein were set to challenge (in this order) in Super Pole. Buemi and Abt were the only real Formula E title contenders in Super Pole but both have very low chance.
The first driver to run was Audi’s Abt with the German setting a 1m10.894s lap which was beaten by Lynn, who set a 1m10.696s. BMW Andretti’s Sims (1m10.899s) was next up but the British racer was only third with Envision Virgin’s Bird (1m11.094s) in fourth.
Mahindra’s Wehrlein went in then as the German managed to beat Lynn’s time with a 1m10.600s to claim provisional pole until Nissan e.Dams’ Buemi went quicker with a 1m10.188s to score Formula E pole for Saturday’s New York EPrix.
Position 7-22: Lopez, da Costa, Frijns, Vergne, Gunther, Dillmann, Evans, di Grassi, Paffett, Lotterer, Mortara, Turvey, Vandoorne, Rowland, Massa, D’Ambrosio.
