Renault e.dams driver and reigning Formula E champion Sébastien Buemi stormed to pole position for the Paris ePrix during a tense qualifying session.
The Swiss racer easily made it through to Super Pole after topping the group stages, and narrowly edged out Techeetah’s Jean-Éric Vergne to first place on the grid.
He put in a 1:02.319 to become the first repeat polesitter of the 2016/2017 season, just 0.006 seconds ahead of Vergne.
It was a scruffy lap from Vergne but he will start his home race from second, ahead of DS Virgin Racing’s José María López.
NextEV NIO’s Oliver Turvey was fourth but he will drop 10 places on the grid due to powertrain changes ahead of the race.
Esteban Gutierrez made it two Techeetah cars in Super Pole but a mistake on his lap limited him to fifth, which will become fourth with Turvey’s penalty.
Nick Heidfeld narrowly missed out on the final segment of qualifying after his late lap for Mahindra, he was sixth quickest ahead of team-mate Felix Rosenqvist.
Andretti’s Robin Frijns was eighth in qualifying, but will move up a spot due to Turvey’s penalty, ahead of Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and the second Renault e.dams of Nicolas Prost.
Mike Conway makes his Formula E return with 11th quickest in qualifying for Faraday Future Dragon Racing, while Nelson Piquet Jr was 12th.
Abt Audi Sport’s Lucas di Grassi, Buemi’s closest title rival, was only 14th fastest after struggling in group one, ahead of Venturi’s Tom Dillmann – making his series debut.
Sam Bird branded qualifying the “worst” of his career so far down in 18th, just behind Daniel Abt and António Félix da Costa.
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