Evans claims maiden pole position as Vergne struggles

Mitch Evans claimed his and Jaguar Racing’s first Formula E pole position ahead of the Zurich ePrix while championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne had a disappointing session after qualifying in 17th place.

Vergne’s team-mate Andre Lotterer and Dragon Racing pair Jerome d’Ambrosio and Jose Maria Lopez made the super pole shootout alongside Vergne’s championship rival Sam Bird.

Bird was the first to set a time of 1:13.022 but later said he made a mistake on the exit of the chicane which cost him a shot at pole position.

Lotterer looked like he had wrapped up pole position with a time of 1:12.948, but Evans set a session-best time in sector two to claim pole by a tenth of a second.

It meant that Lotterer had to settle for second place, ahead of DS Virgin’s Bird and Dragon Racing pair d’Ambrosio and Lopez.

Vergne’s lap time in groups qualifying of a 1:13.524 was only good enough for 17th spot on the grid, and the Techeetah driver was also placed under investigation for moving into 200kW mode too early.

Lucas di Grassi – who can no longer retain his title mathematically after not picking up the three bonus points for pole position – will start sixth, just ahead of Renault pair Sebastien Buemi and Nico Prost.

Daniel Abt qualified in ninth ahead of Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist and Jaguar’s Nelson Piquet. Alex Lynn was 12th, ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Edoardo Mortara.

Antonio Felix da Costa was 15th despite not completing many laps in free practice two earlier, ahead of Andretti team-mate Stephane Sarrazin.

Vergne was 17th with Maro Engel 18th and NIO pair Luca Filippi and Oliver Turvey starting on the back row. Turvey hit the wall on his qualifying run.

Super Pole

Group Classification