Lucas di Grassi has claimed pole position for the penultimate round of the 2016-17 Formula E Season in Montreal for Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport. Di Grassi beat his championship rival, Sebastien Buemi, to the all important starting position, being only 0.196 seconds faster than the Swiss racer.
Lucas di Grassi cuts Buemi’s championship lead with Montreal ePrix pole position
Through this, Di Grassi is not only in a strong position for the Montreal ePrix, but has also closed in on Buemi in the Drivers’ Championship, slashing what was a ten point lead with two races to go to only seven points.
You can watch di Grassi’s pole lap here:
Through a ten-place grid penalty, Buemi will not start alongside Di Grassi on the front row of the grid, and will instead start down in 12th place, outside of the points paying positions. This means that he will have to perform at least two overtakes in the race to score some points.
Through Buemi’s penalty, Techeetah’s Stephane Sarrazin has been promoted to the front row of the grid while Felix Rosenqvist has been bumped up the grid to start on the second row alongside Renault e.dams’ Nico Prost.
With two races remaining, three drivers now remain in contention to win the Formula E Drivers’ Championship as the battle for the series’ ultimate prize rolls down to the final round of the season once again. Sebastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi are the main candidates for the championship while Mahindra Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist still mathematically has a chance of winning the title.
Prior to qualifying, DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird did stand a chance of winning the title, however, needed to secure pole. Since he has failed to do this, the British driver is no longer in contention, qualifying down in 18th when his car was unable to engage 200kw mode.
Qualifying results:
1. Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:22.869
2. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams 1:23.065
3. Stephane Sarrazin, TECHEETAH 1:23.179
4. Nico Prost, Renault e.dams 1:23.330
5. Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra 1:24.351
6. Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH 1:23.398
7. Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:23.532
8. Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1:23.869
9. Oliver Turvey, NextEV NIO 1:23.923
10. Tom Dillmann, Venturi 1:23.931
11. Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:23.999
12. Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:24.302
13. Robin Frijns, Andretti 1:24.622
14. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra 1:24.769
15. Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti 1:24.805
16. Jose Maria Lopez, DS Virgin Racing 1:25.297
17. Maro Engel, Venturi 1:25.369
18. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing 1:25.770
19. Nelson Piquet Jr, NextEV NIO 1:26.165
20. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing 1:36.580
