Sebastien Buemi moved within 14 points of championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr after taking pole position for race one of the FIA Formula E round at Battersea Park.
The Swiss driver had to wait until his group of five took to the track to take top spot, with the e.dams driver setting a best time of 1m24.648s to jump to the top ahead of Audi Sport Abt driver Lucas di Grassi, who had been at the head of the times since the opening moments of qualifying.
Jerome d’Ambrosio also set a time quicker than di Grassi, albeit by only 0.001s, to join Buemi on the front row for Dragon Racing, with di Grassi third ahead of championship leader Piquet Jr of NEXTEV TCR.
Jean-Eric Vergne will start fifth for Andretti Autosport despite spinning during the session, with the second e.dams entry of Nicolas Prost sixth.
Oliver Turvey was a very impressive seventh for NEXTEV TCR in his first series qualifying session, qualifying ahead of Mahindra Racing’s Bruno Senna, Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and Amlin Aguri’s Salvador Duran, who completed the top ten.
The second Mahindra of Karun Chandhok crashed exiting the final corner during the session, while Fabio Leimer made a mistake and touched the barrier, breaking his front wing.
The race will start behind the safety car due to the barrier modifications at turn one, ensuring a big advantage for pole sitter Buemi from the off, with drivers up and down the paddock believing it will be near-on impossible to overtake around the Battersea Park circuit.
Battersea Park Race 1 Qualifying Times
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