Formula E Miami: Jean 'Epic' Vergne pips Piquet Jr for pole

Jean Eric Vergne pipped former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr by five hundredths of a second to take pole position for the fifth round of the 2014/15

Jean Eric Vergne pipped former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr by five hundredths of a second to take pole position for the fifth round of the 2014/15 Formula E championship in Miami on Saturday.

It was Vergne’s second pole of the season in three attempts, having missed the first two rounds due to his Formula 1 commitments with Toro Rosso. The Frenchman laid the only sub-1:06 lap of the day in 1:05.953 to edge Piquet’s laptime of 1:06.003.

Nicolas Prost headed the timesheets for the first two legs of qualifying before the aforementioned duo of Vergne and Piquet surged ahead to relegate him to third place.

Sam Bird will join Prost on the second row of the grid. The British driver topped the shortened practice session earlier today but couldn’t quite replicate his performance during qualifying in front of Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson.

Daniel Abt was fifth quickest for his eponymous squad with a time of 1:06.255 while Stephan Sarrazin was a tenth adrift in sixth.

Formula E championship leader Lucas di Grassi had a disappointing afternoon in Miami and lines up a lowly seventh for today’s race. Jerome D’Ambrosio was eighth fastest while Jaime Alguersuari and Nick Heidfeld rounded up the top 10.

Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi who are making their Formula E debut this weekend did a formidable job, considering how little track time they had in these electric cars prior to qualifying. They will share the sixth row on the grid ahead of Amlin’s Salvador Duran and Sebastien Buemi’s eDams.

Mahindra languish in 16th and 17th places

Karun Chandhok reportedly damaged his suspension but nevertheless managed to set a timed lap that was good enough for 16th on the grid. He would be utterly distressed with his performance, considering he was second quickest in practice.

Bruno Senna didn’t bring any relief for Mahindra after locking up and ruining the first of his two flying laps. His second lap on full power only yielded 17th spot on the grid.

Formula E Miami ePrix - Qualifying results