Lucas di Grassi managed to overcome his group one qualifying slot to take a provisional first pole position of the season for the Punta del Este ePrix.

The Brazilian driver, who has been critical of the system having started in this group on five occasions in season four and this having a negative effect on some circuits, set the second quickest time of the first qualifying session.

He then improved to set a 1m13.672s lap time in superpole, roughly two tenths faster than anyone else, but was one of three drivers under investigation after the session for hitting a bollard with his right rear tyre.

Brit Alex Lynn finished in second place after a strong lap, despite damaging the right-hand side of his front wing after running over a bollard during his lap.

Jaguar driver Mitch Evans also made contact with the wall early in his run but managed to recover to third, seven tenths behind di Grassi.

NIO’s Oliver Turvey also managed to get into superpole from group three (like Evans) but could only manage fourth after also making contact with the bollard.

Current drivers’ championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne made an error early in his superpole effort and had to limp home to a fifth-place finish.

Vergne had set the fastest time in the opening exchanges and was the only driver from group four to make the final session.

Mexico City race-winner Daniel Abt just missed out on the top five, finishing half a tenth behind Oliver Turvey who advanced in fifth.

Renault e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi was also very close to making it through to superpole but made a critical mistake near the end of his lap and could only manage seventh place in the end.

Group one was the only one not to feature any crashes.

Buemi’s team-mate Nico Prost smashed into the wall at the end of group two and is set to start last, whilst in group three, Mahindra driver Nick Heidfeld made contact with the barrier causing a red flag.

This ruined the attempt of Swiss driver Edoardo Mortara, who could only manage 16th on his second try.

Mortara will stay in this position, having a 10-place grid penalty rescinded after changing his tub due to safety reasons.

Felix Rosenqvist, who lies second in the championship, could only drag his Mahindra to 14th and will face a large battle trying to catch up to Vergne during the race.

Jaguar driver Nelson Piquet also crashed during the group four event and is set to start the contest from 19th.

Andre Lotterer, Maro Engel and Sam Bird rounded out the top 10.