Clinching the Pole Position – his ninth in his FIA Formula E career – was last year’s race winner and Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi with a time of 1:20.355.
After a leaving Hong Kong with just one point, this could be the comeback the Swiss driver has been hoping for as he starts the race at Circuit Moulay El Hassan, at the front of the grid this afternoon.
Starting behind Buemi in second will be DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird, who set a lap time of 1:20.615 in the Super Pole shoot-out. Behind Bird is last year’s Pole sitter, Felix Rosenqvist (Mahindra Racing), followed by a surprise appearance from Dragon’s Jose Maria Lopez ahead of his first start in Season Four of the FIA Formula E Championship. Starting in fifth place will be reigning champion Lucas di Grassi.
With Rosenqvist at the top, teammate Nick Heidfeld scuppered his chances of getting into Super Pole as he drifted sideways, ending up in the barrier awaiting recovery. “It was my mistake and I’m sorry for the team – it shouldn’t have happened, said Heidfeld. “I just started braking too late.”
Damage was also sustained for MS&AD Andretti’s Antonio Felix da Costa, who slammed into the tyre wall after a failing to make a turn. Despite the damage, da Costa starts one up on Venturi Formula E Team’s Edoardo Mortara who again suffered from reliability issues.
See below for the full results from Qualifying and Super Pole.
1 – Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams
2 – Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing
3 – Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing
4 – Jose Maria Lopez, Dragon
5 – Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Shaeffler
6 – Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing
7 – Nelson Piquet Jn, Panasonic Jaguar Racing
8 – Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Shaeffler
9 – Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing
10 – Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team
11 – Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team
12 – Tom Blomqvist, MS&AD Andretti Formula E
13 – Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH
14 – Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team
15 – Nico Prost, Renault e.dams
16 – Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon
17 – Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH
18 – Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing
19 – Antonio Felix da Costa, MS&AD Andretti Formula E
20 – Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team