There was a surprise for qualifying, with Jerome D’Ambrosio winning the Super Pole after favourite Sebastien Buemi made a mistake going into the second chicane on his final lap.
After a interrupted session with accidents involving Bruno Senna and Nelson Piquet Jr, both of which occurring at the first corner, the final Super Pole session was dominated by D’Ambrosio after only setting the third fastest time in the main part of qualifying.
Group One
Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi
Loic Duval, Dragon Racing
Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing
Duval was the first on track, followed by Vergne who had been struggling in the previous practice sessions. First warming up on a 170kw they then headed onto the 200kw lap, it was the DS Virgin Racing driver who was ahead of Duval, with Heidfeld in third and Sarrazin in fourth. Vergne ended the group fastest on a 1:04.4, a couple of tenths faster than fellow Frenchman Loic Duval.
Group Two
Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams
Lucas di Grassi, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing
With Group Two getting underway it was Buemi would lead the group of the garage, with D’Ambrosio attacking the Renault driver through the stadium on their outlap. Pushing on their 170kw lap and the action continued with di Grassi locking up behind Buemi and missing the chicane.
Senna made a mistake at the first chicane, ruling him out of the session with a broken front suspension. D’Ambrosio went fastest, before being deposed by di Grassi and then Buemi who went faster than the pair of them. The Frenchman got the time down to 1:03.6, three tenths faster than the Brazilian.
Group Three
Nico Prost, Renault e.dams
Antonio Felix da Costa, Team Aguri
Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Formula E
Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR
The first three cars out were Prost, Turvey and Abt, with the Renault driver having the handicap of the access hatch opening up on his 170kw lap. On his 200kw lap Prost went second quickest behind his teammate. Daniel Abt couldn’t match his fellow ABT driver di Grassi in fifth. Da Costa went seventh, on what was his first 200kw lap of the weekend, with De Silvestro could only go tenth, with Turvey in 11th.
Group Four
Salvador Duran, Team Aguri
Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing
Mike Conway, Venturi
Robin Frijns, Andretti Formula E
Piquet Jr started his 170kw lap with a bang, locking up into the first corner and hitting the barriers hard. There was a lot of damage to the front of the car, marooned in the middle of the chicane, but the driver walked away unharmed.
The cars returned out onto the track again, with the clock reset to the full six minutes to give the drivers both their 170kw and 200kw laps that the other groups were able to have.
Frijns went out of the pits much later the other drivers due to stuck gears, with Bird leading the group on the 200kw laps. All were down on the leaders, with Bird making his way to 11th place, Duran could only go 13th, quickly deposed by Mike Conway.
Setting his lap later than the others, Frijns laps suffered from the traffic caused by the other drivers. There were lock ups along the way, but it was just 13th for the Andretti driver.
Super Pole
Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing
Lucas di Grassi, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
Nico Prost, Renault e.dams
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams
The first out in the Super Pole session was Abt, straight onto the 200kw lap. It was a steady lap for the German, although he only managed a 1:04.3 lap, seven tenths down on what Buemi achieved in the first part of qualifying. D’Ambrosio was next up in the Dragon Racing car, and with a lot more aggression in his driving was able to pull a 1:03.7 out of the bag.
Di Grassi, who was third in the first part of qualifying, was next up in the ABT Schaeffler machine. He was a tenth down in the first sector, and wasn’t as clean as the Dragon driver, ending his lap three tenths down. Prost wasn’t able to match D’Ambrosio either, although he narrowly set the second quickest time to start on the front row for the race.
Buemi went into the session as the favourite for pole, but he locked up into the second chicane and missed the apex. He finished the lap slowest of all the runners, and will start fifth for the race.
