Formula E – Beijing ePrix – Qualifying: First Pole for Prost!

After the best times by Lucas di Grassi during the first practice sessions and Bruno Senna during the second practice sessions, it’s time for the qualifying session. A particular format is used to avoid overcrowding the short and narrow tracks, with the 20 drivers divided into four groups of 5, drawn at random.

Group 1

Karun Chandhok, Oriol Servia, Jarno Trulli, Michela Cerruti, and Stéphane Sarrazin are the first on track. The Indian driver is announced under investigation before starting his lap. He clocks in at 1:49.531, Servia falls short by two-tenths, Cerruti by 2.6 seconds. Behind, a double retirement: Sarrazin then Trulli park their cars in the same escape area. For the Frenchman, it looks like a technical failure, whereas for the Italian, it’s a collision with a wall that broke his rear wing.

In the second flying lap, Chandhok maintains the advantage with 1:42.4, and Servia falls short this time by four tenths after a big wheel lock-up during braking. Michela Cerruti falls short by 3.7 seconds.

Chandhok – 1:42.461

Servia – 1:42.847

Cerruti – 1:46.254

Trulli – no time

Sarrazin – no time

Group 2

The group is composed of Sam Bird, Jérôme D’Ambrosio, Charles Pic, Ho-Pin Tung, and Takuma Sato. On this urban circuit, the drivers take all the risks and skim the walls. Sato, the first to complete his lap, nearly crashes into the wall that was disastrous for Jarno Trulli but manages to avoid it. The Japanese driver clocks 1:44.129, while Tung is 2.8 seconds behind. Bird achieves 1:42.9 on his first lap, putting him provisionally in 3rd place. D’Ambrosio is 1.1 seconds behind the Brit. As for Charles Pic, his time isn’t good, but the Frenchman aborted his first attempt.

The Frenchman then goes for a single lap: 1:42.726, placing him 2nd overall. A yellow flag is announced as D’Ambrosio finishes his lap without improvement. Sam Bird falls short by two-tenths to Pic.

Pic – 1:42.726

Bird – 1:42.918

D’Ambrosio – 1:44.274

Sato – 1:44.451

Tung – 1:45.282

Group 3

Nicolas Prost, Sébastien Buemi, Daniel Abt, Lucas di Grassi, and Katherine Legge are launching to battle it out. The Brazilian leads in the first two sectors of his attempt and confirms it: he takes the lead with 1:42.308, but Prost overtakes him with 1:42.2. Buemi is five-tenths back, Abt eight-tenths, and Legge 3.7s behind.

After the battery cooling lap, the drivers are back on track, with Di Grassi being the first to do so. The Brazilian falls short by 1 tenth behind Prost, Abt by two. On the e.dams side, it’s a streak of bad luck: Prost, far ahead of his time, goes too wide and slightly grazes the barrier, while Buemi is at a standstill, having hit the same spot as Trulli!

Prost – 1:42.200

Di Grassi – 1:42.306

Abt – 1:42.454

Buemi – 1:42.746

Legge – 1:45.369

Group 4

Jaime Alguersuari, Franck Montagny, Nelson Piquet, Bruno Senna, and Nick Heidfeld make up this last 100% F1 group. Senna, by the way, still hasn’t left the garage, as the mechanics are still busy working on the rear of his Mahindra.

Montagny is the first to start his lap, but he has to abort his attempt after poor braking and cutting the chicane. Piquet Jr. takes all the risks on his first attempt: he records 1:43.161, Alguersuari does one-hundredth better while Heidfeld records 1:42.579, provisionally 5th.

The second attempt is launched for Montagny and the Frenchman just edges out the German by 49 thousandths to take the provisional 5th place; Heidfeld takes the sixth place and Alguersuari the 7th.

Montagny – 1:42.530

Heidfeld – 1:42.579

Alguersuari – 1:42.683

Piquet – 1:42.785

Senna – no time

The first pole position in the history of Formula E goes to Nicolas Prost, who earns 3 points in the championship. The Frenchman is ahead of the two Audi Sport ABT drivers, Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt.