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Santiago ePrix: Vergne edges out Buemi for pole

Jean-Eric Vergne has secured pole position for the Santiago ePrix, while Formula E championship leader Felix Rosenqvist will only start 14th. 

Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah

Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah

Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah
Sébastien Buemi, Renault e.Dams
Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah
Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing
Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E
Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing
Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing
Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah
Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah
Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah
Sébastien Buemi, Renault e.Dams
Sébastien Buemi, Renault e.Dams

Vergne was only fourth-fastest in the group stage before all-but-replicating his laptime in the Super Pole, which proved enough to beat Sebastien Buemi to pole by 0.194 seconds. 

Lucas di Grassi qualified third-fastest, but the reigning champion will start 13th after a 10-place grid penalty for a pre-event inverter change on one of his Audi Sport Abt cars. 

That promotes Andre Lotterer to third and Sam Bird to fourth, with second-row starts the best both drivers could manage after mistakes in Super Pole.

Lotterer was quickest in the group stage, comfortably his most impressive performance in FE so far, but crashed at Turn 1 on his Super Pole lap and broke the front wing. 

He crawled round to the finish, 27s off the pace, but that was enough to earn third because Bird failed to complete his lap. 

The Briton lost the rear of his DS Virgin Racing car on the entry to the long Turn 5/6 double-right, and backed it square into the barriers. 

Nelson Piquet Jr missed out on a first Super Pole appearance with Jaguar by a tenth, but secured his best starting position of the season with fifth after di Grassi’s penalty.  

Alex Lynn, Oliver Turvey, Nico Prost, Jose Maria Lopez and Daniel Abt complete the top 10.  

Di Grassi drops to one place ahead of championship leader Rosenqvist, who had a terrible session. 

Rosenqvist, who had a couple of trips down the escape road in practice, put in a scruffy opening sector and was only 14th-fastest. 

He will start nine places behind his nearest pursuer Bird, who trails him by just four points in the championship. 

Nick Heidfeld compounded Mahindra’s misery by qualifying 15th.

The session’s most costly errors came from Luca Filippi and Mitch Evans, who both visited the Turn 3 escape road and will start 19th and 20th as a result. 

Qualifying results:

Pos.DriverTeamTimeGap
1 france Jean-Eric Vergne  china Techeetah 1'19.161  
2 switzerland Sébastien Buemi  france DAMS 1'19.355 0.194
3 brazil Lucas di Grassi  germany Team Abt 1'19.673 0.512
4 germany Andre Lotterer  china Techeetah 1'46.429 27.268
5 united_kingdom Sam Bird  united_kingdom Virgin Racing no time  
Super Pole cut-off: 1'19.182
6 brazil Nelson Piquet Jr.  united_kingdom Jaguar Racing 1'19.300 0.139
7 united_kingdom Alex Lynn  united_kingdom Virgin Racing 1'19.447 0.286
8 united_kingdom Oliver Turvey  china NIO Formula E Team 1'19.574 0.413
9 france Nicolas Prost  france DAMS 1'19.623 0.462
10 argentina Jose Maria Lopez  united_states Dragon Racing 1'19.662 0.501
11 germany Daniel Abt  germany Team Abt 1'19.726 0.565
12 germany Maro Engel  monaco Venturi 1'19.877 0.716
13 belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio  united_states Dragon Racing 1'19.923 0.762
14 sweden Felix Rosenqvist  india Mahindra Racing 1'19.984 0.823
15 germany Nick Heidfeld  india Mahindra Racing 1'20.012 0.851
16 portugal Antonio Felix da Costa  united_states Andretti Autosport 1'20.132 0.971
17 italy Edoardo Mortara  monaco Venturi 1'20.157 0.996
18 united_kingdom Tom Blomqvist  united_states Andretti Autosport 1'20.422 1.261
19 italy Luca Filippi  china NIO Formula E Team 1'31.271 12.110
20 new_zealand Mitch Evans  united_kingdom Jaguar Racing 1'40.540 21.379

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