Qualifying in Paris: what to expect

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After two entertaining free practice sessions around the streets of the French capital, the eighteen Formula E drivers are now preparing for qualifying. The bumpy Paris circuit has already proven to punish anyone making the slightest of errors, so qualifying should be fascinating.

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Group 1 will be made up of the Venturi duo of Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway, Mahindra’s Nick Heidfeld, Sebastien Buemi (Renault e.Dams) and Loic Duval (Dragon Racing). Sarrazin has been quick in both sessions in Paris so far, and will hope to continue his strong qualifying form, while Conway impressed with P5 in the first practice session and a P1 in the second one. Heidfeld was also able to take a top ten position in first practice with a P9, but struggled to 15th place in second practice. Former championship leader Buemi took pole in the first two races of the season but hasn’t done so since, so he will be hoping to bounce back in Paris. He was P1 in first practice but could only manage 13th in the second session. Duval, meanwhile, was a solid P6 in first practice but also struggled in FP2 with a 12th place.

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In Group 2 will be the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport duo of championship leader Lucas di Grassi, who was second and fourth in FP1/FP2 respectively, and Daniel Abt who finished P7 and P10 in the two sessions. Robin Frijns (Amlin Andretti), Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Virgin Racing) and Nelson Piquet Jr (NEXTEV TCR) round out the group. Frijns was rapid in the early stages of first free practice before slipping back to P12 at the end, before spinning during second practice and ending 9th. Vergne, at his home race, was also quick in the early stages of FP1 but could only manage eleventh at the end, however put in a stunning lap at the end of second practice to take second place. Reigning champion Piquet is looking to recover after a disappointing season so far, and showed promising signs in first practice with a P10, before a slip back to P14 in FP2.

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There are a few pole candidates in Group 3 as Dragon Racing’s Jerome d’Ambrosio – who has taken two poles this season – and Renault e.Dams’ Nicolas Prost are joined by Mahindra’s Bruno Senna, Oliver Turvey (NEXTEV TCR) and Simona de Silvestro (Amlin Andretti). Prost was a disappointing P15 in first practice and could only recover to 8th in the second session, while d’Ambrosio was last in FP1 after suffering a car issue and could only manage to move up two places in FP2 to 16th. Both will look to improve their fortunes in qualifying. Senna impressed in free practice with eighth and sixth places, while Turvey could only manage P16 and P17 in his NEXTEV TCR machine. After going off track early in first free practice, de Silvestro ended that session in P14, improving to P11 in second practice.

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For the first time in Formula E history, Group 4 will feature just three drivers, with the other groups featuring five each. The first driver in the group is DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird, who was fourth and third in the free practice sessions and has taken two poles this season. Team Aguri’s Antonio Felix da Costa is next up – the Portuguese driver took pole on track in Long Beach before being sent to the back of the grid after a technical infringement, and was P7 in second practice after struggling for track time in FP1. Rounding out the group is da Costa’s new team-mate Ma Qing Hua, making his Formula E debut this weekend. He struggled to get up to speed in free practice 1 due to a lack of laps, but managed to get within two seconds of the quickest time by the end of second practice.

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Laurence Thorn | e-racing.net

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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