Sebastien Buemi has a mountain to climb if he is to win a second consecutive Formula E title after only qualifying in fourteenth place.
The Swiss driver locked up going into the first corner of his hot lap and was unable to recover.
To make matters worse his title rival Lucas di Grassi will start in fifth, making it an almost impossible task for Buemi to make up the eighteen point deficit he faces.
The reigning champion looked devastated afterwards, and later bemoaned being drawn in the first qualifying group.
Buemi said, “To be honest I had to try. We’ve seen yesterday it’s a different type of category if you’re in group one, so I had to try and I’ve no regrets with that.
“I think I lost five to six tenths, so maybe I could have made three or four positions and been first in my group, but obviously you see the track improves so much you have absolutely no chance if you’re in group one.
“No regrets and anything can still happen in the race.”
At the front Felix Rosenqvist continued his strong pace from practice to get the three points from pole position, with Sam Bird just missing out after making a mistake on his final hot lap.
Jean-Eric Vergne will be hopeful of getting on the podium again in Montreal after he qualified third, just ahead of Nick Heidfeld.
Daniel Abt will line up alongside his Abt Schaeffler Audi team-mate di Grassi on the third row, and Nico Prost’s ten place grid penalty for a battery change sees him demoted from seventh to seventeenth.
That means that Tom Dillman and Nelson Piquet Jr will make up the fourth row of the grid, with Stephane Sarrazin and Jerome d’Ambrosio behind.
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