Monaco Formula E: Vergne on Monaco FE pole after Rowland penalty

Nissan e.dams driver Rowland, who came through the third segment of group qualifying, set the best time in superpole with a 50.021sec - 0.174s slower than the lap he set to top FP2.

But as he has a three-place grid penalty for hitting Alexander Sims during the wet race conditions last time out in Paris, Rowland loses pole and will start fourth.

Vergne's superpole lap looked solid all the way around - he was quickest in the first sector before losing fractions in the second and third segments to wind up 0.021s adrift of Rowland's best.

Mitch Evans took third place but is under investigation for a possible superpole procedure infraction, which is believed to be activating his 250kW power mode too early.

Pascal Wehrlein ended up fourth for Mahindra Racing but will be promoted ahead of Rowland, with Venturi's Felipe Massa starting fifth.

Sebastien Buemi, who won both of FE's previous races in Monaco, finished sixth in superpole after losing time in the opening sector.

Sims ran early in group three, slotting into third in the group standings, which were topped by Vergne, before he was shuffled back to seventh, missing out on superpole by 0.104s.

Alex Lynn was the highest group four runner as he took eighth for Jaguar, one spot ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa, who was the highest group one runner.

Da Costa had stayed in superpole contention after the second group had completed their laps, but the efforts of the third group moved him down the order, with Jose Maria Lopez rounding out the top 10 from group four.

Stoffel Vandoorne took 11th, with championship leader Robin Frijns heading his fellow group one runner Lucas di Grassi in 12th and 13th.

Maximillian Gunther secured P14 for Dragon, but he will drop to the rear of the field after getting a 10-place penalty for picking up a third reprimand of the season for speeding during the full course yellow test in FP1.

Sam Bird headed Oliver Turvey and Jerome D'Ambrosio in positions 15-17, with group two runners Daniel Abt and Edoardo Mortara - the latter appeared to hit the kerb hard exiting the final corner on his flying lap - taking 18th and 19th.

Like Rowland, D'Ambrosio and Mortara will also move back three spots as their punishment for causing crashes in the Paris race.

Group four runners Gary Paffett and Tom Dillmann finished 20th and 21st in the group running, with Andre Lotterer ending up 22nd and last for DS Techeetah.

Lotterer, second in the standings heading into the weekend, was the first driver to complete a lap in group one, but a lock up at the second part of the Swimming Pool complex and what looked like a brush with the barrier at the last corner cost him time.

Qualifying result