Nicolas Prost stuck his e.Dams Renault on pole position for second round of the FIA Formula E Championship at the Putrajaya ePrix with a laptime of 1:22.719 around the Malaysian street circuit. However, a 10 place grid penalty for a clumsy clash with Heidfeld at the first round of the season in Beijing will drop the Frenchman to 11th on the grid.
Prost’s penalty promotes the Dragon Racing pair on the first row for the Putrajaya GP with Spanish driver Oriol Servia starting ahead of Sam Bird after Jerome D'Ambrosio was disqualified for exceeding power usage.
Sam Bird who topped the practice session earlier this morning will line up third with Daniel Abt providing him with company on row two. Abt had a tough decision to make with GP2 and Formula E clashing this weekend. The German eventually chose the latter.
The two Mahindra Racing drivers again found themselves in the top 10 with Karun Chandhok seventh fastest with a laptime of 1.22.612s and Senna qualifying in 10th place with a time that was two tenths slower than his teammate. Senna will enjoy a 30kw power boost after being announced as one of the three winners of 'fan boost' - a highly debated gimmick under which Formula E fans can vote for their favourite drivers online with three drivers with most votes enjoying a temporary boost of electric power.
Jarno Trulli - who had a horrible weekend last time out at the Formula E season opening Beijing ePrix - was sixth fastest and will move up one place on the grid with a laptime of 1:22.347.
Nelson Piquet was eighth quickest in qualifying with Nick Heidfeld and Senna completing the top 10. All three will start one place ahead of their qualifying position.
Matthew Brabham, grandson of three-time F1 champion Jack, was 11th fastest for Andretti while Frank Montagny who provided much of the fireworks at Beijing could qualify no higher than 14th.
Lucas di Grassi clipped the wall at turn 5 and will start from the back of the grid. Jamie Alguersuari, tried his best to avoid the Brazilian but eventually hit the wall himself, having set no time on board.
FORMULA E PUTRAJAYA ePRIX - Qualifying results
1 Nicolas Prost* e.dams-Renault 1.21.779s
2 Oriol Servia Dragon Racing 1.22.010s +0.231s
3 Jerome d'Ambrosio** Dragon Racing 1.22.215s +0.436s
4 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1.22.235s +0.456s
5 Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 1.22.342s +0.563s
6 Jarno Trulli Trulli 1.22.347s +0.568s
7 Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 1.22.612s +0.833s
8 Nelson Piquet China Racing 1.22.620s +0.841s
9 Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1.22.720s +0.941s
10 Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 1.22.816s +1.037s
11 Matthew Brabham Andretti 1.22.941s +1.162s
12 A. Felix da Costa Amlin Aguri 1.23.194s +1.415s
13 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 1.23.240s +1.461s
14 Franck Montagny Andretti 1.23.697s +1.918s
15 Michela Cerruti Trulli 1.23.857s +2.078s
16 Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 1.23.894s +2.115s
17 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 1.25.319s +3.540s
18 Katherine Legge Amlin Aguri 1.25.823s +4.044s
19 Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing
20 Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT
* Received 10-place grid penalty
** Disqualified for exceeding power usage
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