Di Grassi on provisional pole at Punta, under investigation

Audi's Lucas di Grassi stormed to a provisional first pole position of the 2017/2018 Formula E season for the Punta del Este E-Prix, but his lap is under investigation for hitting a bollard. 

The Audi Sport Schaeffler sport driver is one of three drivers from Superpole to be under investigation for cutting the Turn 14/15 chicane and hitting the bollard, along with NIO’s Oliver Turvey and DS Virgin’s Alex Lynn.  

Di Grassi’s 1:13.948s was over two tenths quicker than Lynn's effort, with the Briton suffering front wing damage after clipping the bollard on his 200kW lap. 

Mitch Evans continued to impress for Jaguar as he posted the third fastest time, and as the first driver not to be under investigation for hitting the bollard, could see himself claim a shock maiden Formula E pole if the stewards decide to punish di Grassi and Lynn. 

Fourth quickest was Turvey, while championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne - who topped the qualifying heats with a 1:13.672s - made a mistake in the first sector on his Superpole run and could only place his Techeetah a distant fifth. 

Mexico City winner Daniel Abt was half a tenth shy of a place in the Superpole shootout in sixth, ahead of early morning pacesetter Sebastien Buemi, who could only manage seventh in his Renault e.dams.

Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer was eighth quickest ahead of Maro Engel’s Venturi, while DS Virgin’s Sam Bird was a low-key 10th following a scrappy run. 

Just missing out on a place in the top 10 was Jose Maria Lopez, who outpaced Dragon teammate Jerome d’Ambrosio and the lead Andretti of Antonio Felix da Costa. 

Felix Rosenqvist’s uncompetitive day continued as he could only manage 14th place after clipping the wall on his flying effort, ahead of NIO’s Luca Filippi, Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara and Tom Blomqvist’s Andretti. 

Mahindra’s Heidfeld will line-up from 18th after crashing out towards the end of his qualifying run. Heidfeld’s accident brought out the red flags and halted the third heat, in what was the German’s second qualifying crash of the 2017/18 campaign.

Jaguar’s Nelson Piquet Jr joins Renault e.dams’ Nico Prost on the back row of the grid, after both drivers crashed out. Prost broke his steering before clouting the wall at the Turn 14/15 chicane in group two, while Piquet ended the fourth and final session in the Turn 10/11 barriers.