Andre Lotterer has secured Porsche’s first pole position in Formula E at the Mexico City E-Prix after beating Mitch Evans to the top spot by just 0.063s.
Jaguar driver, Evans was fastest after the first four qualifying groups, and looked like he was on course to secure his second consecutive pole position, but he failed to better Lotterer’s Super Pole time of 1m7.922s.
Pascal Werhlein put in an impressive time of 1m8.200s to go third fastest in his Mahindra Racing car, but he will start on the back of the grid after opening his gearbox.
His penalty means he will start last on the grid and will also need to serve a drive through penalty.
Nyck De Vries was fourth fastest, just 0.014s behind Werhlein, but he will be promoted to the second row as a result of the Mahindra driver’s penalty.
Sebastien Buemi was the highest placed Nissan driver, going fifth fastest, and ended up 0.080s faster than the Virgin Racing car of Sam Bird.
Bird put in an impressive lap in the opening group on qualifying to make it through to Super Pole, but made a slight mistake on his lap in the final session and ended up the slowest of the six drivers.
The Virgin Racing driver’s team-mate, Robin Frijns ended up seventh fastest, setting a best time of 1m08.435s, narrlowly missing out on a top six slot, while Nico Muller was a further 0.044s behind in eighth.
Jean Eric Vergne was just ahead of his DS Techeetah team-mate Antonio Felix Da Costa who rounded out the top ten.
Championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne was 11th fastest, having been in the first group, managing a best time of 1m08.636s, while his championship rival, Alexander Sims could only manage 20th in his BMW i Andretti car, saying he struggled with confidence around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit.
Oliver Turvey ended up with the slowest time, after stopping out on the track in his NIO333 car whilst on his one and only real flying lap.
Daniel Abt was the only driver not set a time as he was unable to take part in qualifying due to being sent to hospital for checks after his large crash in the final practice session.
The team has confirmed that Abt is fine and he will take part in the race later on Saturday.
Qualifying Results
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andre Lotterer | Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team | 1:07.922 |
| 2 | Mitch Evans | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | +0.063 |
| 3 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mahindra Racing | +0.278 |
| 4 | Nyck De Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ | +0.292 |
| 5 | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.dams | +0.442 |
| 6 | Sam Bird | Envision Virgin Racing | +0.522 |
| 7 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | 1:08.435 |
| 8 | Nico Muller | GEOX Dragon | +0.044 |
| 9 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | +0.061 |
| 10 | Antonio Felix Da Costa | DS Techeetah | +0.105 |
| 11 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ | +0.201 |
| 12 | Edoardo Mortara | Rokit Venturi Racing | +0.226 |
| 13 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.dams | +0.291 |
| 14 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Mahindra | +0.353 |
| 15 | Brendon Hartley | GEOX Dragon | +0.443 |
| 16 | Neel Jani | Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team | +0.445 |
| 17 | Lucas Di Grassi | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | +0.563 |
| 18 | Max Gunther | BMW i-Andretti Motorsport | +0.663 |
| 19 | James Calado | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | +0.896 |
| 20 | Alexander Sims | BMW i-Andretti Motorsport | +0.941 |
| 21 | Felipe Massa | Rokit Venturi Racing | +1.015 |
| 22 | Ma Qing Hua | NIO 333 Racing | +1.741 |
| 23 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 Racing | +1:01.626 |
| DNQ | Daniel Abt | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler |
