BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa kick-started Season Five of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, soaring to a dominant pole position in Ad Diriyah.
Following a hectic morning of time changes and delays, qualifying for the opening race of the 2018/19 season was tweaked, with the Formula E's traditional format of four groups of qualifiers being scrapped in favour of two groups of 11 runners.
As part of Group A, da Costa set a best lap of 1m 17.728s to claim pole position, edging ahead of NIO Formula E's Tom Dillmann by 0.165s although the Frenchman is under investigation for failing to adhere to proper qualifying protocol, completing too many installation laps before his final 250kW qualifying time.
Jose Maria Lopez set the third fastest time in qualifying for GEOX Dragon, 0.385s adrift of da Costa although with Dillmann under investigation, the Argentinian racer could start on the front row of the grid if the Frenchman is excluded from the final qualifying result.
Nissan e.dams' Sebastien Buemi set the fourth fastest time to secure a spot on the second row of the grid while Formula E rookie Stoffel Vandoorne propelled himself into fifth on the grid for HWA Racelab.
Sam Bird completed the top six for Envision Virgin Racing while reigning Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne experienced a difficult session, ending qualifying with only the seventh fastest time, 0.843s adrift of da Costa's pole-setting pace.
Formula E returnee Robin Frijns secured eighth on the grid in the second Envision Virgin entry while Jerome d'Ambrosio was the lead Mahindra driver, qualifying in ninth place after Felix Rosenqvist crashed out of qualifying in his Group B run.
Andre Lotterer completed the top 10 in the second DS Techeetah car.
For reigning Formula E Teams' Champions Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler, the German marque had a difficult qualifying session, with Season Three champion Lucas di Grassi missing out on a top 10 position in 11th while Daniel Abt could only manage 18th, 2.657s off the pace.
Caught out by the late red flag in Group B caused by Rosenqvist, Panasonic Jaguar Racing was a victim of the opening qualifying session of the year, with Mitch Evans only managing 12th while Nelson Piquet Jr finished in a disappointing 20th.
