Formula E Punta del Este: Vergne inherits pole, di Grassi demoted

Audi driver Di Grassi had claimed his first provisional pole of the season with a 1m13.948s lap ahead of DS Virgin Racing's Alex Lynn.

But the pair, and NIO's Oliver Turvey, were placed under investigation for clipping a bollard at the Uruguayan coastal circuit's high-speed Turn 14/15 chicane during the superpole segment.

Vergne had topped the group qualifying session, but abandoned his superpole lap after striking the wall at the first chicane.

Following a long investigation, di Grassi, Lynn and Turvey were put to the back of the superpose session.

Vergne will therefore start from pole, ahead of di Grassi, Lynn, Turvey and Daniel Abt.

In a separate development, Mitch Evans, who had qualified third after striking the wall on the exit of the double left-hander at the end of the circuit's first leg, was demoted to 16th on the grid due to a weight distribution issue following a change of battery between the practice sessions.

Sebastien Buemi, who set the fastest time in FP1 and won FE's first two races in Uruguay in seasons one and two, did not progress from the final group to superpole and will start sixth after losing time in the tail end of his flying lap.

Andre Lotterer was eighth fastest ahead of Maro Engel - another driver to brush the wall - and Sam Bird, third in the championship coming into the weekend, rounded out the top 10 in qualifying for DS Virgin.

Another title contender - Mahindra's Felix Rosenqvist - wound up 14th after clipping the wall at the first chicane and then again exiting Turns 7 and 8.

Three drivers who crashed brought up the rear of the field in 18th, 19th and 20th.

Nick Heidfeld crashed out late during the third group's running as he understeered into the wall at Turn 17, the last chicane just before the final hairpin.

Nelson Piquet flew through the first sector during his flying lap in group four, but the Jaguar driver hit the blue sausage kerb at the Turns 10/11 chicane and then clattered into the wall on the exit as a result.

Nico Prost brought up the rear of the field after crashing at the high-speed Turn 14/15 chicane and will start 19th.

The Renault driver ran over the kerbs on the left-hander entry and later reported that the steering was damaged in the impact, which caused him to jump across the second apex and go straight into the wall on the outside.

Starting grid

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap
1	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	Renault	1m16.806s	-
2	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	Audi	-	-
3	Alex Lynn	Virgin	DS Virgin	-	-
4	Oliver Turvey	NIO	NextEV NIO	-	-
5	Daniel Abt	Audi	Audi	1m14.224s	-2.582
6	Sebastien Buemi	e.dams	Renault	1m14.320s	-2.486
7	Andre Lotterer	Techeetah	Renault	1m14.442s	-2.364
8	Maro Engel	Venturi	Venturi	1m14.523s	-2.283
9	Sam Bird	Virgin	DS Virgin	1m14.552s	-2.254
10	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Dragon	Penske	1m14.673s	-2.133
11	Antonio Felix da Costa	Andretti	Andretti	1m14.973s	-1.833
12	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra	Mahindra	1m15.104s	-1.702
13	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	Venturi	1m15.493s	-1.313
14	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Jaguar	Jaguar	1m42.656s	25.850s
15	Luca Filippi	NIO	NextEV NIO	1m15.444s	-1.362
16	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	Jaguar	-	-
17	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra	Mahindra	-	-
18	Jose Maria Lopez	Dragon	Penske	-	-
19	Nicolas Prost	e.dams	Renault	1m53.358s	36.552s
20	Tom Blomqvist	Andretti	Andretti	1m16.424s	-0.382