Alex Lynn has claimed pole position for the New York ePrix for DS Virgin Racing. The British driver set a time of a 1:03.296 in the Super Pole 1 qualifying session to beat Daniel Abt who was his nearest challenger, who put his Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport machine on the front row of the grid, albeit 0.238 seconds slower than Lynn.
Alex Lynn claims pole in New York on Formula E debut
Jean Eric Vergne qualified in third place, only three thousandths of a second slower than Abt for Techeetah. He will start alongside Sam Bird who qualified in fourth place. By putting his DS Virgin Racing car into fourth on the grid, the team is looking set for a good result in New York, and will be targeting a double podium finish. If both Lynn and Bird manage to do this, it would mark the first double podium finish for the team since Formula E started in 2014.
While Sebastien Buemi is absent from the grid in New York to compete in the World Endurance Championship, this weekend is a perfect chance for Lucas Di Grassi to close in on his championship rival and revive his title campaign with only four races remaining this season. In order to do this, it was important for the Brazilian driver to have a strong qualifying result, however, he only managed tenth on the grid, failing to qualify for the Super Pole 1 shootout.
Buemi’s replacement, Pierre Gasly, qualified down in 19th place for Renault e.dams in his first Formula E qualifying session, and will start alongside Maro Engel.
The New York ePrix marks the first time that Formula E has held a race in the city that never sleeps, and more significantly, it also marks the first time that an FIA associated event will be held in America’s biggest city, with the 1.21 mile long circuit being specifically designed for the double header event this weekend.
You can watch Alex Lynn’s pole lap here:
Amazing Pole Position lap by @alexlynnracing on his Formula E debut! #NYCePrix pic.twitter.com/Cn5WTH7lXU
— FIA Formula E (@FIAformulaE) July 15, 2017
Qualifying for the New York ePrix Race 1:
- Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, 1:03.296
- Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 1:03.534
- Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, 1:03.537
- Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, 1:03.557
- Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 1:07.203
- Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra, 1:03.193
- Nelson Piquet Jr, NextEV NIO. 1:03.361
- Oliver Turvey, NextEV NIO, 1:03.385
- Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, 1:03.433
- Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 1:03.480
- Stephane Sarrazin, TECHEETAH, 1:03.580
- Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 1:03.521
- Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 1:03.555
- Mitch Evans, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 1:03.637
- Tom Dillmann, Venturi, 1:03.795
- Robin Frijns, Andretti, 1:03.830
- Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindria, 1:04.300
- Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti, 1:04.585
- Pierre Gasly, Renault e.dams, 1:04.936
- Maro Engel, Venturi, 1:17.571
