Antonio Felix da Costa put in a stunning lap to secure pole for the first of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship finale races in Berlin.
Despite going out in the first qualifying group, da Costa was fastest in group qualifying which meant he got to go out last in Super Pole. The Portugese then posted fastest times in each of the sectors to take pole position by over three tenths with a 1:06.799 for DS Techeetah.
Da Costa’s teammate Jean-Eric Vergne had held provisional pole but he ended the session in second meaning that Techeetah will lock out the front row of the grid for the race.
Slotting into third was Andre Lotterer for Tag Heuer Porsche who said he would’ve been happier with the position if he hadn’t been behind both of his ex-team’s cars. Lotterer was satisfied with the place though as he had been struggling during the practice sessions and had been unable to complete a 250kW lap during the morning.
Nissan e.dams were fourth with Sebastien Buemi, 0.449 seconds off the leader while the fastest man from practice, Nyck de Vries, took fifth after putting in a solid lap despite the rear of his Mercedes-Benz EQ sliding on him in the final sector.
The last of the Super Pole runners was Jerome d’Ambrosio who drove the fastest final sector of anyone before da Costa’s lap, the Mahindra Racing driver will start sixth. Sam Bird was the highest placed Envision Virgin Racing car, the Brit missed out on Super Pole by the finest of margins, 0.004, in a very competitive midfield.
The second Nissan e.dams slotted into eighth but Oliver Rowland does have a 20 place penalty for changing his inverter so he will start at the back and most likely have a 5 second time penalty during the race to make up for the few positions he couldn’t be demoted by.
Da Costa’s current closest title rival, Mitch Evans, could only put his Panasonic Jaguar Racing car into ninth. The Kiwi was happy with his group one lap but admitted that da Costa had done a “blinder” with his own effort.
The final top ten place was secured by Felipe Massa, the Rokit Venturi driver recorded a 1:07.563 but his tyres had gone off their best by the final sector.
James Calado will be joining Rowland at the back of the grid as the Jaguar driver was handed a 60 place grid drop this afternoon after his E-motor, inverter and battery was changed after all his issues in practice. The Brit will most likely be handed a ten second stop-and-go penalty as he cannot serve all the grid place drops.
Click here for the full qualifying results.
