Envision Virgin’s Nick Cassidy claimed his second Julius Baer Pole Position in ABB Formula E around the Brooklyn Street Circuit, beating out Jean-Eric Vergne by just over a tenth of second.
Sebastien Buemi looked to be set for pole in only his second Super Pole appearance this season, as he continued his strong pace from FP2. The Nissan e.dams driver topped Group Qualifying with a 1:09.531 to narrowly pip Vergne to the additional point available.
They were joined in the Super Pole shootout by TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, BMW i Andretti’s Maximillian Guenther and Alexander Lynn for Mahindra.
Lynn, who sought to recreate his maiden pole position on his Formula E debut in New York in Season 3, laid down the benchmark with a 1:09.538.
However, it was the rookie Cassidy who took a bite out of the Big Apple and clocked in a 1:09.338 to go quickest.
Vergne then looked set to beat the Kiwi as he went purple in Sector 2. Unfortunately for him, the DS Techeetah driver was forced to settle for second, 0.161s slower.
As a result, Cassidy claims the three additional points for pole position and will now line up on the front row with the Frenchman for company. This is quite a change of fortunes as the Envision Virgin car languished at the bottom of the timing sheets in FP1.
Lynn starts from third alongside Guenther. Meanwhile, Buemi was unable to convert his initial pace into success and qualified in fifth, as Wehrlein rounds out the top six.
Puebla E-Prix race winner Lucas di Grassi was narrowly knocked out of Super Pole by 0.013s and will line up in seventh.
Oliver Rowland start eighth in the second Nissan e.dams. The British driver initially had a difficult Group 2 Qualifying, going high over the kerb at Turn 6 and clipping the back of compatriot Sam Bird. Fortunately, both drivers were able to re-join the session following the red flag.
Alexander Sims qualified in ninth and will line up on the fifth row alongside Porsche’s Andre Lotterer.
It was a tricky session for the championship contenders. Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns was the fastest qualifier in Group 1, but starts from 11th, over half a second down on Buemi’s time.
Reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa could only manage the 13th quickest time for DS Techeetah.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans qualified in 16th. Meanwhile, his teammate Bird struggled after his crash in FP1. The team managed to get his chassis change finished with only six seconds to spare. However, set-up issues saw him grapple with a challenging car before this incident with Rowland. He will start down in 20th.
Mercedes EQ also face an uphill battle as Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne were forced to settle for 18th and 21st on the grid, respectively.
Championship leader Edoardo Mortara closed out the timing sheets in 24th place, as an issue saw the ROKiT Venturi driver being unable to use the full 250kWs of power available.
