Buemi on pole, Vergne at the back of the grid in New York

For the team's last race weekend Renault e.dams in Formula E, Sébastien Buemi took pole position for the first race of the New York ePrix.

The fight for the title, however, offered an unexpected scenario with Sam Bird (DS Virgin Racing) only 14th, when Jean-Eric Vergne (Techeetah) saw his times canceled during the first part of qualifying.

The first group was particularly scrutinized during the first round, since there were the last two protagonists for the 2017-2018 title. But the Frenchman quickly “killed” any suspense in this first part by setting the provisional best time in 1'13″890, while Bird could only set the fourth time.

Worse for the Briton, the following groups saw a good number of drivers sign much better times than the resident of Ferrari en WEC.

But this poor performance will be counterbalanced by the cancellation of Vergne's time, penalized for having exceeded the authorized 200 kW (205 kW). Fellow Techeetah driver André Lotterer also had his times canceled for the same reason.

Race Control: Car 25 (@JeanEricVergne) has had all of his lap times canceled in Qualifying #NYCPrix

- ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) July 14, 2018

According to Techeetah Team Principal Mark Preston, an update made to the code that manages the car, could be involved.

Words from our Team Principal @markpreston3 following the #NYCEprice Qualifying. @FIAFormulaE // #ABBFormulaE // #NYCPrix pic.twitter.com/wwIK4wYOs0

— TECHEETAH (@TecheetahFE) July 14, 2018

Daniel Abt (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) therefore finished at the head of the first round of qualifying following the cancellation of Vergne's time, and took to Super Pole Mitch Evans (Panasonic Jaguar Racing), Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Dragon) and the two Renault e.dams by Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Cheers.

The final, decisive session ultimately turned in favor of Buemi, author of a time of 1'13"911, more than five tenths ahead of Evans. Nicolas Prost and Jérôme d'Ambrosio will start from the second row, while Daniel Abt and Nelson Piquet Jr (Panasonic Jaguar Racing) will start from the third row.

9th place for Tom Dillmann (Venturi), while Stéphane Sarrazin (Andretti) sets the 17th time. Jean-Eric Vergne will start at 21:30 p.m. French time from the last row.

Note that Oliver Turvey (NIO) did not take part in the session, after left hand injury in free practice, and necessary examinations at the hospital.

Qualification ranking