Antonio Felix da Costa beat Jean-Eric Vergne to pole position for the first round of the six-part Berlin E-Prix at the Tempelhof Airport Circuit.
The Portuguese racer, who is the current leader of the Drivers’ Championship, performed his initial qualifying run in Group 1 and posted a 1:07.122s lap to emerge as the fastest driver in the early stages.
In Super Pole, Vergne was the fourth runner and by lapping the 2.355km-long venue in 1:07.121s, shot to the top of the timseheets in provisional pole position.
When Nissan e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi failed to challenge Vergne, it was a guaranteed DS Techeetah pole, however, a storming lap from da Costa saw the 28-year-old topple the reigning back-to-back champion by 0.322s.
This delivered DS Techeetah a 1-2 result in qualifying while Porsche’s Andre Lotterer again impressed by delivering the German marque with third on the grid.
Buemi meanwhile secured fourth for his Franco-Japanese team while Nyck de Vries was the lead Mercedes EQ driver, taking fifth while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne was 16th. Jerome d’Ambrosio was sixth for Mahindra.
Outside of Super Pole, Sam Bird was the lead Envision Virgin entry in seventh while Oliver Rowland was eighth, however, will start from 23rd after receiving a 20-place grid penalty.
Championship contender Mitch Evans only managed ninth from Group 1. Felipe Massa completed the top 10 for ROKiT Venturi Racing.
Both BMW i Andretti Motorsport drivers failed to qualify inside the top half of the field, with Maximilian Guenther taking 13th while Alexander Sims was only 17th after both pilots completed their initial runs in the first part of the classification session.
It was also a difficult day for Audi, with Lucas di Grassi securing 21st after almost crashing in his run while Rene Rast mustered a performance worthy of 14th.
| # | Driver | Team | Gap | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. DA COSTA | DS TECHEETAH | 1:06.799 | |
| 2 | J. VERGNE | DS TECHEETAH | 0.322 | 1:07.121 |
| 3 | A. LOTTERER | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | 0.436 | 1:07.235 |
| 4 | S. BUEMI | Nissan e.dams | 0.449 | 1:07.248 |
| 5 | N. DE VRIES | Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team | 0.503 | 1:07.302 |
| 6 | J. D’AMBROSIO | MAHINDRA RACING | 0.572 | 1:07.371 |
| 7 | S. BIRD | ENVISION VIRGIN RACING | – | 1:07.492 |
| 8 | O. ROWLAND | NISSAN E.DAMS | 0.029 | 1:07.521 |
| 9 | M. EVANS | PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING | 0.063 | 1:07.555 |
| 10 | F. MASSA | ROKIT VENTURI RACING | 0.071 | 1:07.563 |
| 11 | R. FRIJNS | ENVISION VIRGIN RACING | 0.089 | 1:07.581 |
| 12 | A. LYNN | MAHINDRA RACING | 0.154 | 1:07.646 |
| 13 | M. GÜNTHER | BMW I ANDRETTI MOTORSPORT | 0.193 | 1:07.685 |
| 14 | R. RAST | AUDI SPORT ABT SCHAEFFLER FORMULA E TEAM | 0.285 | 1:07.777 |
| 15 | E. MORTARA | ROKIT VENTURI RACING | 0.334 | 1:07.826 |
| 16 | S. VANDOORNE | MERCEDES-BENZ EQ FORMULA E TEAM | 0.501 | 1:07.993 |
| 17 | A. SIMS | BMW I ANDRETTI MOTORSPORT | 0.504 | 1:07.996 |
| 18 | N. JANI | TAG HEUER PORSCHE FORMULA E TEAM | 0.522 | 1:08.014 |
| 19 | O. TURVEY | NIO 333 FE TEAM | 0.597 | 1:08.089 |
| 20 | N. MÜLLER | GEOX DRAGON | 0.626 | 1:08.118 |
| 21 | L. DI GRASSI | AUDI SPORT ABT SCHAEFFLER FORMULA E TEAM | 0.644 | 1:08.136 |
| 22 | D. ABT | NIO 333 FE TEAM | 1.062 | 1:08.554 |
| 23 | S. SETTE CÂMARA | GEOX DRAGON | 1.136 | 1:08.628 |
| 24 | J. CALADO | PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING | 2.702 | 1:10.194 |
