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Vergne secures record breaking pole as DS Techeetah lock out the front row

Jean-Eric Vergne secured a record-breaking pole position as DS Techeetah locked out the front row ahead of the Jakarta E-Prix.

The Frenchman set a lap of 1m08.523s to beat Antonio Felix da Costa in the final, and secure his 15th pole position, moving him ahead of Sebastien Buemi on the records list.  

Da Costa’s lap in the final could diplomatically be described as lurid with the Portuguese driver eventually losing 8 tenths compared to Vergne at turns 2, 9, 13, 16, and 18.

Prior to that, Vergne made his way to the final after finishing second in his group, before beating Pascal Wehrlein in the quarter-finals and Mitch Evans in the semis.

Meanwhile, Da Costa booked his place in the final by beating topping his group, beating Buemi in the quarter-finals and Mortara in the semis.

Evans will start the inaugural Jakarta E-Prix third ahead of Mortara. Jake Dennis was the quickest of those who didn’t make it past the quater-finals, and will start P6. Wehrlein qualified seventh, but will start 11th after being given a five-place grid penalty due to Porsche breaking a seal on his powertrain as part of their investigation into what caused his retirement in Monaco.

Buemi and Stoffel Vandoorne start sixth and seventh.

Of the drivers who didn’t make the duels, Andre Lotterer missed out for the first time this season and will start eighth, Nyck de Vries was also fifth in his group and will start ninth. Lucas Di Grassi completes the top 10.

Dan Ticktum failed to get a second run in group qualifying after reaching the start line seconds after the chequered flag was waved, although he did enough to start 18th.

Antonio Giovinazzi failed to set a representative lap time in the Dragon Penske entry.

Meanwhile, Robin Frijns failed to set a lap time at all after a mistake on his first run saw him pit to have some hoarding removed.

This led to him getting investigated for a qualifying procedure infringement but he will start ahead of Giovinazzi.

Rob Lomas

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