Lucas di Grassi cut Sebastien Buemi's Formula E championship lead to just seven points after claiming pole position by 0.196s for the first Montreal ePrix.

Renault E.Dams driver Buemi was handed a 10-place grid penalty for having to replace a battery in his second car after crashing at the final corner during Second Practice on Saturday morning, which handed Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport driver Di Grassi the advantage, with Buemi holding just a 10 point advantage going into qualifying. 

In super-pole, Buemi went second to last, and posted a time of 1:23.065s which was enough for provisional pole, but di Grassi was the last driver to run.

In Sector One, di Grassi was four hundrenths slower than Buemi, but pulled it back in Sectors two and three to post a 1:22.869s and take the three bonus points awarded for pole. 

Stephane Sarrazin will line up third for Teecheetah, 0.310s slower than di Grassi with Buemi's team-mate Nico Prost completing the second row.

The other driver in super-pole, Felix Rosenqvist made a mistake at Turn 1 on his lap and ended up 1.482 slower than di Grassi. 

Best ever qualifying for Jaguar

After its horror start to the season in Hong Kong Jaguar recorded its best ever qualifying, with Mitch Evans and Adam Carroll seventh and eighth quickest, but will both move up a position due to Buemi's penalty. 

Jean-Eric Vergne will start fifth for Teecheetah once the penalty has been applied, as he missed out on a super-pole slot by just 0.159s.

In Q1, Jerome D'Ambrosio failed to set a 200kw time after he missed the chequered flag and his Farraday Future Dragon Racing car was 13s off the pace. 

Sam Bird, who won both races in New York, was unable string his lap together and his DS Virgin Car will line up 18th of the 20 runners.

Antonio Felix da Costa struggled on his fast lap in the second group and will start 15th just ahead of Jose Maria Lopez, who is returning after missing the New York round due to WEC commitments in Germany. 

Maro Engel appeared to be unable to use the full 200kw on his fast lap, his Venturi lining up 17th. 

The driver who set the slowest representative time was Nextev NIO's Nelson Piquet Jr, who bemoaned having to run in the first session, "when the track is dirty."

2017 Montreal ePrix Race 1 - Provisional Grid

Position Driver Team Time/Gap
POLE Lucas di Grassi Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:22.869 (super-pole)
2nd Stephane Sarrazin Teecheetah +0.310s (super-pole)
3rd Nicolas Prost Renault E.Dams 0.461s
4th Felix Rosenqvist Mahindra Racing +1.482s
5th Jean-Eric Vergne Teecheetah 1:23.398s
6th Mitch Evans Jaguar Racing +0.134s
7th Adam Carroll Jaguar Racing +0.471s
8th Oliver Turvey NEXTEV NIO +0.525s
9th Tom Dillman Venturi +0.533s
10th Loic Duval Faraday Future Dragon Racing +0.601s
11th Daniel Abt Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport +0.904s
12th Sebastien Buemi Renault E.Dams +0.196s (super-pole)
13th Robin Frijins Andretti  +1.226s
14th Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Racing +1.391s
15th Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti +1.407s
16th Jose Maria Lopez DS Virgin Racing +1.899s
17th Maro Engel Venturi +1.971s
18th Sam Bird DS Virgin Racing +2.372s
19th Nelson Piquet Jr NEXTEV NIO +2.767s
20th Jerome D'Ambrosio Faraday Future Dragon Racing +13.182s

 

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