Berlin ePrix: Rosenqvist follows win with Sunday pole
Felix Rosenqvist claimed pole position for the second part of Formula E’s Berlin double-header as he looks to make it a brace of Tempelhof victories this weekend.
Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing
Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
The Mahindra driver defeated championship leader Sebastien Buemi by less than a tenth of a second in a close Super Pole session at the airport venue.
Much warmer conditions compared to Saturday meant qualifying took place with track temperature 10C higher at the start, but not increasing as much throughout the session.
That helped Saturday's race winner Rosenqvist, who topped the first qualifying group but only just held on to a place in the Super Pole as those running later improved.
He ran first in the shootout, where his 1m08.208s was good enough to defeat Buemi by 0.098s.
Jose Maria Lopez and DS Virgin Racing teammate Sam Bird will share the second row.
Lopez ended up a couple of tenths clear of Bird, who had topped the group stage and was only 0.002s slower than Rosenqvist through the opening sector before his lap gradually fell away.
Jean-Eric Vergne was slowest of the Super Pole runners and will start fifth after a scruffy lap that would only have been good enough for 18th in the group phase.
Oliver Turvey just missed out on the top-five shootout, although sixth place was mighty compared to his NextEV teammate Nelson Piquet Jr, who was a second slower and down in 18th.
Saturday poleman Lucas di Grassi could only managed seventh this time, and will share the fourth row with Daniel Abt.
Mitch Evans produced another head-turning qualifying performance in ninth, 10 places ahead and 1.2s faster than Jaguar teammate Adam Carroll.
Nico Prost completed the top 10 in the second Renault e.dams entry.
While Rosenqvist is now eyeing a clean sweep of Berlin victories, his teammate Nick Heidfeld will do well to even score points.
The German did not do a full-power lap in qualifying after a suspected sensor problem left him without full throttle, and he will line up last for the second part of the double-header in his home country.
Qualifying Results:
Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mahindra Racing | 1'08.208 | |
2 | Sébastien Buemi | DAMS | 1'08.306 | 0.098 |
3 | Jose Maria Lopez | Virgin Racing | 1'08.454 | 0.246 |
4 | Sam Bird | Virgin Racing | 1'08.688 | 0.480 |
5 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Techeetah | 1'09.103 | 0.895 |
6 | Oliver Turvey | NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team | 1'08.142 | |
7 | Lucas di Grassi | Team Abt | 1'08.223 | 0.015 |
8 | Daniel Abt | Team Abt | 1'08.348 | 0.140 |
9 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | 1'08.356 | 0.148 |
10 | Nicolas Prost | DAMS | 1'08.465 | 0.257 |
11 | Loic Duval | Dragon Racing | 1'08.483 | 0.275 |
12 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Dragon Racing | 1'08.552 | 0.344 |
13 | Maro Engel | Venturi | 1'08.582 | 0.374 |
14 | Robin Frijns | Andretti Autosport | 1'08.583 | 0.375 |
15 | Tom Dillmann | Venturi | 1'08.738 | 0.530 |
16 | Stéphane Sarrazin | Techeetah | 1'08.822 | 0.614 |
17 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Andretti Autosport | 1'09.085 | 0.877 |
18 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team | 1'09.149 | 0.941 |
19 | Adam Carroll | Jaguar Racing | 1'09.543 | 1.335 |
20 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra Racing | 1'11.267 | 3.059 |
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