In the sweltering heat of the summer sun in Santiago, it was Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi who clinched the Julius Baer Pole Position and an additional three points, to start the 2019 Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix at the front of the grid.
Di Grassi, who put in a solid performance in Qualifying after an uneventful start to the season came under investigation by the FIA for a technical infringement during the session with the outcome yet to be decided, which could affect his starting position for the race.
Behind the Brazilian is Nissan e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi. After a shunt in the first practice session of the day, he made his way into Super Pole, posting a 1:08.816s, which is good enough to see him start the race in second.
Buemi will start the race with Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein behind him in third. After misery in Marrakesh during his Formula E debut, the start looks promising for the Formula E rookie. Audi’s Daniel Abt will start in fourth with HWA Racelab’s rookie Stoffel Vandoorne in fifth and Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird rounding off Super Pole in sixth.
Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara will start the race in seventh after a clean lap, just missing out on Super Pole. Behind him is Geox Dragon’s Maximilian Guenther, who will start in eighth with BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Alex Sims behind him in ninth.
Starting three places behind his teammate is Venturi’s Felipe Massa, who closes off the top ten grid positions. Behind him is Geox Dragon’s Jose-Maria Lopez who starts what Argentinian driver considers to be his ‘home race’ in 11th.
12th place on the grid goes to Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans, who places a full eight positions ahead of his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr in 20th. Reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) missed out on Super Pole and will start the race in 13th, ahead of Nissan e.dams’ rookie Oliver Rowland in 14th.
DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer will start in 15th, ahead of Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing), HWA Racelab’s Gary Paffet in 17th and BMW i’s Antonio Felix da Costa in 18th.
For NIO’s Oliver Turvey, the British driver will start the race in 19th, ahead of Piquet Jr and last races’ winner Jerome d’Ambrosio (Mahindra Racing) and fellow NIO driver Tom Dillmann at the back of the grid.
But following the early afternoon Qualifying session in Santiago’s Parque O’Higgins, where Lucas di Grassi clinched a provisional Pole while under investigation. The FIA – motorsport’s governing body – found the Brazilian driver to be in breach of a new rule, sending him to the back of the grid for the race start.
Brought in after the pit lane incident in Marrakesh, where NIO’s Tom Dillmann crashed into the back of the Envision Virgin Racing cars, di Grassi was found to have used more in the “inlap” during Qualifying then in the flying lap without any reason.
As a result, the Brazilian falls to the back while old rival Sebastien Buemi will start the race on Pole.