Mexico City Formula E: d'Ambrosio on pole after Buemi error

Renault e.dams driver Buemi topped the group phase but, moments after beating d'Ambrosio's superpole benchmark in sector one, locked up at Turn 4.

It is the third race in a row Buemi has made a mistake in qualifying, though by getting through to the superpole he at least avoids the back-of-the-grid start he endured in Buenos Aires.

While Buemi's error made d'Ambrosio's life easier, the Dragon Racing driver had already delivered a fantastic lap to go three tenths faster than Buemi's team-mate Nicolas Prost.

Abt Audi Sport driver Lucas di Grassi lost a lot of time in the final sector of his superpole lap and fell 0.010 seconds short of Prost's best. He will start on the second row alongside team-mate Daniel Abt.

Jean-Eric Vergne will join Buemi on row three after delivering his best qualifying performance since the opening round of the season by claiming sixth for DS Virgin Racing.

Despite only completing a handful of flying laps in practice, Team Aguri's Antonio Felix da Costa was an impressive seventh fastest, but will take a 10-place grid penalty after requiring a gearbox change.

That means the second Dragon of Loic Duval and Mahindra's Nick Heidfeld will line up on the fourth row of the grid, with Stephane Sarrazin and Buenos Aires ePrix victor Sam Bird completing the top 10.

Inaugural champion Nelson Piquet Jr will start last as his difficult season continued with a crash during the group phase.

The Brazilian had started his 170kW lap when he locked up heading into Turn 1 and ploughed through the TecPro barrier, damaging the front of his NEXTEV TCR 001 and causing a red flag.

Piquet's team-mate Oliver Turvey looked as though he could deliver another strong performance after showing well in practice, but an issue on his 200kW lap left him 16th.

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