Mexico City Formula E: Rosenqvist cuts Vergne's lead with pole
Formula E title hopeful Felix Rosenqvist claimed pole position for Saturday's Mexico City race, cutting Jean-Eric Vergne's championship lead to just two points in the process
Rosenqvist was narrowly headed by Sebastien Buemi in the group stage of qualifying but pumped in an expert superpole lap to deny Antonio Felix da Costa a first FE pole.
After an unspectacular pair of practice sessions Renault e.dams driver Buemi was fractionally fastest in the group stage of qualifying, beating Rosenqvist by just 0.008 seconds.
But Buemi, who ran last in the superpole, locked up at the start of a scruffy shootout lap and wound up slowest of the five contenders.
That confirmed Rosenqvist's fifth FE pole, banking the Mahindra driver three points in the process.
Rosenqvist's 1m01.645s was two tenths quicker than da Costa, who was making his first superpole appearance since the Long Beach round two years ago.
However, da Costa was underweight and had his time removed from the superpole - he will be allowed to start last of the superpole runners.
That will be fourth after Lynn recovered from a heavy crash in final practice to qualify third-fastest, but a 10-place grid penalty for the DS Virgin Racing driver's pre-event gearbox change drops him back.
It means NIO's Oliver Turvey and Buemi will start second and third.
That penalty also promotes Daniel Abt to fifth place, after the Audi Sport Abt driver was the quickest of those to miss out on the superpole.
Within a tenth of Abt were championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne and Nelson Piquet Jr, while Sam Bird and Nick Heidfeld completed the top 10.
Bird, like team-mate Lynn, has a grid penalty though, so he will drop 10 places - as will beleaguered reigning champion Lucas di Grassi.
Audi driver di Grassi knew he would take a grid penalty coming to Mexico after another inverter change following his retirement in Santiago, and qualifying in the opening group meant the worst of the track conditions.
Di Grassi was only 12th fastest overall and will drop to the back, and likely take a small time penalty in the race as he is not serving his full grid penalty.
That trio of penalties means Maro Engel, who only qualified 13th, will start 10th.
Starting grid
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mahindra | Mahindra | 1m01.645s | - |
| 2 | Oliver Turvey | NIO | NextEV NIO | 1m02.172s | 0.527s |
| 3 | Sebastien Buemi | e.dams | Renault | 1m02.510s | 0.865s |
| 4 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Andretti | Andretti | - | - |
| 5 | Daniel Abt | Audi | Audi | 1m01.885s | - |
| 6 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Techeetah | Renault | 1m01.962s | - |
| 7 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Jaguar | Jaguar | 1m01.964s | - |
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra | Mahindra | 1m02.023s | - |
| 9 | Andre Lotterer | Techeetah | Renault | 1m02.057s | - |
| 10 | Alex Lynn | Virgin | DS Virgin | 1m02.014s | - |
| 11 | Maro Engel | Venturi | Venturi | 1m02.091s | - |
| 12 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar | Jaguar | 1m02.135s | - |
| 13 | Jose Maria Lopez | Dragon | Penske | 1m02.264s | - |
| 14 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Dragon | Penske | 1m02.360s | - |
| 15 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams | Renault | 1m02.377s | - |
| 16 | Tom Blomqvist | Andretti | Andretti | 1m02.443s | - |
| 17 | Luca Filippi | NIO | NextEV NIO | 1m02.508s | - |
| 18 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi | Venturi | 1m03.416s | - |
| 19 | Sam Bird | Virgin | DS Virgin | 1m02.007s | - |
| 20 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi | Audi | 1m02.079s | - |
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About this article
| Series | Formula E |
| Drivers | Jean-Eric Vergne , Felix Rosenqvist |
| Author | Scott Mitchell |
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