Formula E Paris: Sam Bird takes his third pole of the season
Sam Bird claimed his third pole position of the Formula E season in qualifying for the inaugural Paris ePrix
After setting the fastest time in the group stage, the DS Virgin Racing driver overturned a sector-one deficit to championship leader Lucas di Grassi to top the superpole shootout by 0.3s.
While Abt Audi Sport's di Grassi could not match Bird's 1m01.616s, he did manage to split the Virgin-run DSV-01s by edging Jean-Eric Vergne for second.
Venturi's Stephane Sarrazin will line up fourth, having been fortunate just to make it out of the group phase after a bizarre accident that eliminated his team-mate and practice pacesetter Mike Conway.
Mahindra Racing driver Nick Heidfeld spun into the barrier at Turn 11 and tried to rejoin the track as Conway came through the corner.
The two collided, causing considerable front-end damage to both cars, and that delayed Sarrazin, who was just behind Conway on track.
Officials extended that group's session to allow all except Heidfeld and Sebastien Buemi, who had already completed his 200kW run, to return to the track, but Conway's car was too damaged and his spare not charged meaning he will start 17th, with Heidfeld 18th.
Nico Prost was slowest of the superpole runners and will start fifth, three places ahead of Buemi after a difficult session for Renault e.dams.
The championship's benchmark team is struggling in Paris, with low ambient temperatures making it difficult switch on the Michelin tyres.
Buemi wound up eighth, behind Andretti Autosport's Robin Frijns and Oliver Turvey and more than a second off Bird's pace.
Turvey's NEXTEV TCR team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr and Antonio Felix da Costa complete the top 10 on the grid.
STARTING GRID
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sam Bird | Virgin | 1m01.616s | - |
2 | Lucas di Grassi | Abt | 1m01.932s | 0.316s |
3 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Virgin | 1m01.993s | 0.377s |
4 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | 1m02.550s | 0.934s |
5 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams | 1m02.709s | 1.093s |
6 | Robin Frijns | Andretti | 1m02.405s | 0.789s |
7 | Oliver Turvey | China | 1m02.492s | 0.876s |
8 | Sebastien Buemi | e.dams | 1m02.661s | 1.045s |
9 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | China | 1m02.685s | 1.069s |
10 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Aguri | 1m02.747s | 1.131s |
11 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Dragon | 1m02.797s | 1.181s |
12 | Simona de Silvestro | Andretti | 1m02.888s | 1.272s |
13 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra | 1m02.915s | 1.299s |
14 | Daniel Abt | Abt | 1m03.081s | 1.465s |
15 | Ma Qinghua | Aguri | 1m03.655s | 2.039s |
16 | Loic Duval | Dragon | 1m03.787s | 2.171s |
17 | Mike Conway | Venturi | 1m04.798s | 3.182s |
18 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra | 1m11.853s | 10.237s |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments