The first two qualifying groups ran smoothly, though a scruffy lap from DS Virgin’s Sam Bird put the Brit out of position. After the second group, which contained most of the obvious championship contenders, Vergne was top of the timings, followed by Buemi, Di Grassi, Piquet, and Evans.
Already, Buemi was complaining about over heating and the lack of grip, something that would follow on into the super pole shoot out.
The third group was slightly more disjointed. Andretti’s Antonio Felix Da Costa ran into trouble again. The Portuguese driver had already suffered a tough morning when he hit the wall in the first free practice session, but it was a technical glitch that brought him to a stop during qualifying. He managed to continue, only to have to abort his lap when home favourite Jose Maria Lopez flew into the wall.
The red flag was brought out to clear the track and Da Costa, as the only man in the group to not complete a qualifying lap by this point, was allowed out to do a second run once Lopez’s DS Virgin was removed from the track. That didn’t go to plan either, as he tapped the wall at the start of his flying lap, breaking the suspension at the front of his car and giving his mechanics even more work to do.
After the delay, group four were allowed out on track. NextEV’s Oliver Turvey was the only man in the final group to have an impact on the top five as he placed himself fourth in the overall standings. Renault e.dam’s Nico Prost narrowly missed out on the super pole shoot out, finishing sixth whilst Di Grassi’s team-mate, Daniel Abt, crashed at the start of his run. The German managed to complete his lap, but will be starting the race out of position on the grid.
Low grip made for a messy super pole shoot out in which all five drivers struggled with locking their breaks. Everybody managed to stay away from the walls, though, giving the marshals a much needed break.
Di Grassi set the fastest time of the session, nearly two tenths of a second quicker than Vergne in second, to take the first pole position of his career. Points leader Buemi will start the race from third.
Full results below:
1 – Lucas Di Grassi – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
2 – Jean Eric Vergne – Techeetah
3 – Sebastien Buemi – Renault e.dams
4 – Oliver Turvey – NextEV NIO
5 – Nelson Piquet – Nextev NIO
6 – Nico Prost – Renault e.dams
7 – Mitch Evans – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
8 – Felix Rosenqvist – Mahindra Racing
9 – Jerome D’Ambrosio – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
10 – Sam Bird – DS Virgin Racing
11 - Stephane Sarrazin - Venturi
12 – Nick Heidfeld – Mahindra Racing
13 – Robin Frijns – MS Amlin Andretti
14 – Loic Duval – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
15 – Adam Carroll – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
16 – Daniel Abt – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
17 – Antonio Felix Da Costa – MS Amlin Andretti
18 – Jose Maria Lopez – DS Virgin Racing
19 – Ma Qing Hua – Techeetah
20 – Maro Engel – Venturi
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