Vergne extends FE points lead after beating Bird to Paris pole

FIA Formula E 2017/2018 championship leader Jean Eric-Vergne beat emerging title rival Sam Bird to pole position for his home race at the Paris E-Prix. 

The Techeetah driver, who set the pace during the qualifying heats, further improved in the Superpole shoot-out to post a 1m01.144s, pipping DS Virgin’s Bird by 0.2s to seal pole around the Circuit des Invalides.  

In taking his fourth pole of the 2017/18 campaign and the three extra points on offer, Vergne has stretched his advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings over Rome-winner Bird. 

The Frenchman’s Techeetah teammate Andre Lotterer missed out on pole by 0.3s in securing third place on the grid, having survived a tap with the wall earlier in qualifying. 

Lotterer finished ahead of Venturi’s Maro Engel, who put in a brilliant lap to claim a spot on the second row - marking his best qualifying result of his Formula E career. 

Antonio Felix da Costa ended the session slowest of the five Superpole runners, finishing up over 1.5s adrift of Vergne’s benchmark time following a mistake in the first sector. 

Reigning champion Lucas di Grassi narrowly missed out on a spot in Superpole and will start sixth for Audi, ahead of Dragon’s Jerome D’Ambrosio and Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi, who finished just 0.001s slower than the Belgian in eighth.

Oliver Turvey put in the ninth-quickest time for NIO, as Dragon’s Jose Maria Lopez rounded out the top 10 positions. 

Felix Rosenqvist, who claimed recent poles in Mexico and Rome, struggled to the 11th fastest time ahead of Mahindra teammate Nick Heidfeld and the second Renault e.dams of Nico Prost. 

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans qualified 14th but is set to drop to the back of the grid once his 10-place grid penalty is applied for taking on a new gearbox ahead of the Paris race.

Daniel Abt was a low-key 15th for Audi, outpacing Virgin’s Alex Lynn by less than 0.1s, while Tom Blomqvist pipped Edoardo Mortara to the 17th-fastest time ahead of the returning Ma Qing Hua, who replaces Luca Fillipi at NIO.

Season one champion Nelson Piquet Jr failed to take part in qualifying after crashing in both practice sessions and will join his Jaguar teammate on the final row.