Former Toro Rosso F1 driver Jean Eric Vergne placed his Andretti Spark-Renault SRT_01E on pole position for the third round of the Formula E season at Punta del Esta on Saturday.
Vergne, who was dropped by Red Bull after three seasons in their juniour team Toro Rosso in favour of 17 year old Max Verstappen and Formula Renault 3.5 series winner Carlos Sainz Jr, lapped the street circuit in 1:15.408s to secure the prime spot on the grid.
“I wasn’t expecting that but I’m really happy”, said the elated Frenchman. “The other guys are really quick. I kissed the wall slightly so I was really lucky to get away with it. It could have been very different. With sand being blown onto the track it was hard to see how the session and track were going to go and it was a nervous wait at the end but really I’m happy with that result on my debut.”
However, pole position is anything but a guarantee of race win in the newly inaugurated Formula E series with close walls and confusing pit stop procedure all capable of ruining a drivers race.
Another former F1 driver who was sacked by his team - Nelson Piquet Jr - will start alongside Vergne on the front row of the grid.
e.Dams Renault team locked the second row of the grid with Nicolas Prost beating this year’s WEC title winner Sebastien Buemi by a tenth of a second for third place in qualifying.
Virgin Racing had mixed fortunes with Jaime Alguersuari - who topped FP2 earlier today - securing fifth on the grid and Malaysia ePrix winner Sam Bird crashing out in qualifying.
Matthew Brabham, grandson of F1 legend Jack, also failed to set a laptime, after hitting the wall at turn 17.
Back to the other side of the grid, championship leader Lucas di Grassi was sixth fastest in qualifying with Jarno Trulli a tenth of a second slower in his eponymous team.
The Mahindra racing drivers had an average qualifying session, based on the standards they’ve set in the first two races of the season. Bruno Senna was only eighth fastest with a laptime of 1:16.211 with Chandhok another two tenths shy of his teammate. The Indian driver who missed out on a podium finish last time out in Malaysia after a lengthy pit stop will start from 11th on the grid, notwithstanding post qualifying penalties.
In between the two black and red Mahindras came the Venturi of Nick Heidfeld and the Audi Sport backed ABT of Daniel Abt who was the quickest of the drivers in group 1, before slipping further down the pack.
FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP – PUNTA DEL ESTE EPRIX (QUALIFYING, TOP 10)
1) Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti, 1:15.408s
2) Nelson Piquet, China Racing, 1:15.530s
3) Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, 1:15.722s
4) Sebastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, 1:15.842s
5) Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, 1:16.053s
6) Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT, 1:16.108s
7) Jarno Trulli, Trulli, 1:16.144s
8)Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, 1:16.211s
9)Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, 1:16.225s
10)Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, 1:16.374s
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