Buemi grabs his first FE pole of the season

ByAutoSport

Published 13/05/2017 at 11:54 GMT

Formula E championship leader Sebastien Buemi claimed his first pole of the 2016/17 campaign, continuing the trend of a different driver topping qualifying in every race this season.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

Buemi was outpaced by Jean-Eric Vernge and Maro Engel in the group phase but he produced a 53.313s in the superpole to become Formula E's fifth different poleman in five races.

The Renault e.dams driver ended up almost a quarter of a second clear of Lucas di Grassi, earning his first pole since the 2015/16 season finale in Battersea Park in the process.

"It's been a long time since the last pole," said Buemi, who topped both practice sessions earlier on Saturday.

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"We've worked very, very hard, sometimes I couldn't understand why I was not on the pace so I'm very happy to convert it here."

This will be the first time Buemi has started from the front row this season.

Di Grassi just beat Nelson Piquet Jr to second, the Abt Audi Sport man edging his NextEV counterpart by 0.056s as both drivers brushed the wall - di Grassi exiting the final corner and Piquet the swimming pool section.

Behind the top three, a repeat of the podium from the inaugural Monaco ePrix two years ago, a scruffy first sector consigned Vergne to fourth on the grid.

Engel made it back-to-back superpole appearances for Venturi's home race but also hit the wall exiting the swimming pool corners.

Fifth place is still the German rookie's best grid position, after a penalty robbed him of a front-row start at Mexico City last month.

Felix Rosenqvist bounced back from a bizarre practice crash to qualify sixth, the Mahindra rookie just missing out on a second superpole appearance.

DS Virgin Racing's Jose Maria Lopez passed a late fitness test after first practice and qualified seventh, with Nick Heidfeld, Sam Bird and Stephane Sarrazin completing the top 10.

Jerome d'Ambrosio will start last after failing to set a 200kW lap in his Faraday Future Dragon Racing entry.

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