Sam Bird will start the inaugural Paris ePrix from pole position after qualifying his DS Virgin Racing car fastest ahead of his fellow competitors.
Despite a tumultuous practice session that saw him hit the wall, the Brit pulled it together in the superpole shootout to top the time sheets by 0.3 seconds from championship leader Lucas di Grassi.
There was disappointment for the home fans though, who had hopes of a Frenchman being on pole after three made it into the top five. However Jean-Eric Vergne couldn’t match his team mate and will line-up in third, with Stephane Sarrazin and Nico Prost behind him.
The talking point of the session though came when Nick Heidfeld lost the back end of his car going through turn 11 and clouted the barrier. The Mahindra Racing driver then inexplicably tried driving out just as Mike Conway was coming through the turn, causing them to crash.
It was cruel luck for Conway, who had looked like he was in the running for pole, but will instead line up on the back row alongside Heidfeld.
It was a disappointing session for the other championship contender, Sebastien Buemi, He was in the same group as Heidfeld and Conway, but had already completed his 200kW run when the incident occurred. His time wasn’t good enough for the top five though, and he’ll line-up in eighth.
