Buemi ends Formula E pole drought in Marrakesh qualifying
Sebastien Buemi will start Saturday's Marrakesh E-Prix from pole position after topping Formula E qualifying for Renault e.dams and ending an eight-month drought in the process.
Season two champion Buemi recovered from a disappointing opening weekend in Hong Kong to make it through to Super Pole in qualifying, setting the fourth-fastest times in the heats, but was able to capitalise on his rival's errors to go quickest of all in the final shootout.
Sebastien Buemi will start Saturday's Marrakesh E-Prix from pole position after topping Formula E qualifying for Renault e.dams and ending an eight-month drought in the process.
Season two champion Buemi recovered from a disappointing opening weekend in Hong Kong to make it through to Super Pole in qualifying, setting the fourth-fastest times in the heats, but was able to capitalise on his rival's errors to go quickest of all in the final shootout.
Buemi recorded a fastest time of 1:20.355 to finish two-tenths of a second clear of DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird, securing his first pole since last year's Paris E-Prix.
Early pace-setter Felix Rosenqvist was left to settle for third in the Super Pole session after making a mistake on his flying lap, while Buemi's perennial rival Lucas di Grassi appeared to hit trouble, losing time through the final two sectors to ultimately qualify fifth.
Upon his return to the series, Jose Maria Lopez was able to fight through to Super Pole for the second time in Formula E, qualifying fourth for Dragon.
Alex Lynn was edged out of Super Pole contention by DS Virgin teammate Bird, leaving him sixth on the grid ahead of lead Jaguar driver Nelson Piquet Jr.
Daniel Abt lost his first flying lap in Q4 following a red flag shown for Antonio Felix da Costa's crash, meaning he could only go eighth with his effort on colder tyres. NIO's Oliver Turvey suffered a similar fate, taking P10 behind Mitch Evans.
Luca Filippi will start the race directly behind teammate Turvey in 11th, while Tom Blomqvist led Andretti's charge following da Costa's shunt, qualifying 12th ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Maro Engel.
Nicolas Prost once again struggled to match Buemi for pace in the sister Renault e.dams car, taking 15th ahead of Jerome d'Ambrosio and Andre Lotterer.
Nick Heidfeld was left to settle for 18th after crashing on his full power lap, damaging the rear-end of his Mahindra. Da Costa's car was left with greater repairs required after hitting the wall at a severe angle, with the Portuguese driver's 19th-place finish being the least of the Andretti team's worries.
Edoardo Mortara propped up the running order after coming across yellow flags shown for Heidfeld's crash, forcing him to back off and abandon his 200kW lap.
