Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler's Lucas di Grassi claimed provisional pole in a chaotic qualifying session for the Punta del Este ePrix as a decision from the FIA to determine the final result of the session still awaits.
Di Grassi headed into qualifying as the fastest driver on the grid after topping the timesheets in FP2 with a record-breaking lap time around the streets of Punta and performed his initial qualifying lap in Group 1, setting the pace with a lap time of a 1:14.032.
Despite this time being beaten by Jean-Eric Vergne for Techeetah in the final group of runners, di Grassi scored a place inside the Super Pole shootout alongside Vergne, Jaguar Racing's Mitch Evans, DS Virgin Racing's Alex Lynn and NIO's Oliver Turvey.
When Turvey failed to set a competitive time in his one and only run in Super Pole, Lynn claimed provisional pole with a 1:14.189, holding off Evans who was unable to beat the British driver after making contact with the wall.
As the fourth runner of the session, reigning champion di Grassi was the only driver who could beat Lynn, setting a blistering lap time of a 1:13.948 to take the top spot while Vergne failed to mirror his performance from the group qualifying stages after making a mistake in the early part of his flying lap.
Di Grassi, along with Lynn and Turvey, are under investigation, however, after making contact with the bollard on the inside kerb of Turn 15 – an incident that is viewed as exceeding track limits, meaning that the final result of Super Pole is far from decided although if the FIA decide to scrap the lap times of the three drivers, Evans would be promoted to the top spot while Vergne would start from second.
Outside of Super Pole, Daniel Abt qualified in sixth place in the second Audi while season two champion Sebastien Buemi qualified in seventh place for Renault e.dams.
Andre Lotterer secured eighth on the grid in the second Techeetah followed by Maro Engel in ninth and Sam Bird in tenth.
Outside of the top ten Mahindra Racing's Felix Rosenqvist struggled for pace in Punta, only managing to secure 14th on the grid while Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet Jr and Nico Prost failed to set a lap after crashing out in the group stages of qualifying, leaving the trio down in 18th, 19th and 20th.
Discussion about this post