Sims takes third straight Formula E pole in Diriyah

Alexander Sims picked up his third Formula E pole position in a row after topping qualifying for BMW in Diriyah on Saturday, benefitting from early pace-setter Antonio Felix da Costa's error that left the Techeetah driver down in sixth.

Sims took pole for the season-opener in Diriyah on Saturday before finishing eighth in the race, leaving him in Group 3 for qualifying, with the improved track conditions helping him get through to Super Pole in fourth place.

Sims set a time of 1m11.418s in Super Pole despite a slide near the end of the lap, but it was enough to hand him pole by three-tenths of a second from Nissan's Sebastien Buemi.

It makes Sims the first driver in Formula E history to take three pole positions in a row.

Felix da Costa had set the fastest time in the combined qualifying heats, and was on course to beat Sims' pole time before a late mistake saw him drop over two seconds, leaving him sixth on the grid.

Audi's Lucas di Grassi recovered from his disappointing race on Saturday to qualify third ahead of Jaguar's Mitch Evans, while Jerome d'Ambrosio took fifth on the grid for Mahindra.

Saturday race winner Sam Bird qualified seventh for Envision Virgin ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Gunther, with Porsche's Andre Lotterer completing the top 10.

Reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne could only qualify 11th, but will drop down the grid due to a post-qualifying penalty.

Mercedes drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries qualified 12th and 24th respectively following the team's breakthrough podium on debut yesterday.