Vergne takes Santiago Formula E pole after crashes

Jean-Eric Vergne will start Saturday's Santiago E-Prix from the front of the grid after grabbing his second Formula E pole position of the season, edging out Renault's Sebastien Buemi.

Techeetah topped both stages of qualifying as Andre Lotterer finished P1 in the heats, only to miss out on a chance to take his maiden pole after crashing in the final lap of Super Pole.

DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird suffered a similar fate, ending Super Pole in the wall following a spin at Turn 5 that left him fifth and his car in need of repairs ahead of the race.

It was left to Vergne to seize pole position for Techeetah, beating Buemi by 0.194 seconds, with Audi's Lucas di Grassi slotting into third place. The Brazilian will however take a grid penalty, dropping him to 13th for the start.

Nelson Piquet Jr. was left to settle for sixth overall after being shuffled out of Super Pole contention in the final heat, finishing ahead of Alex Lynn and Oliver Turvey. Nicolas Prost took P9, albeit finishing under investigation after qualifying, with Jose Maria Lopez completing the top 10 for Dragon.

Daniel Abt struggled to 11th in the sister Audi car ahead of Maro Engel and Jerome d'Ambrosio, but it proved to be a tough session for points leader Felix Rosenqvist, who took 14th ahead of Mahindra teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Antonio Felix da Costa and Edoardo Mortara wound up 16th and 17th respectively ahead of rookies Tom Blomqvist and Luca Filippi, while Mitch Evans propped up the order after crashing on his 200 kW lap.

The Santiago E-Prix race kicks off at 7pm GMT.