Techeetah secures front row lockout with Vergne on pole in Berlin
![Connor McDonagh's picture Connor McDonagh's picture](https://cdn.crash.net/styles/square_thumbnail/s3/pictures/picture-97072-1693139814.jpg?itok=uKMtf-3Y)
![Techeetah secures front row lockout with Vergne on pole in Berlin](https://cdn.crash.net/styles/article/s3/field/image/1-EPS714_121401_W6I3655.jpg?itok=QDIY95Mh)
DS Techeetah has locked out the front row for the first Berlin E-Prix with two-time Formula E champion Jean Eric-Vergne on pole position ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa.
Techeetah was the team to beat in group qualifying as Vergne led the way after his storming lap in group two.
Da Costa eclipsed Lucas di Grassi’s provisional pole time by over a tenth, but it wasn’t enough as Vergne found even more time at the death in Superpole.
Vergne took to the top with a 1m06.227s, just under 0.080s ahead of his teammate.
Di Grassi was an impressive third for Audi, ahead of the Venturi duo of Edoardo Mortara and Norman Nato.
Sebastien Buemi completed the top six after progressed into Superpole from group four with Nato.
Mitch Evans narrowly missed out on Super Pole in seventh ahead of Jake Dennis.
Dennis looked on course to comfortably make the top six but encountered traffic on his qualifying lap after deciding not to do a build-up lap.
The guilty party was Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries, who could feel the wrath of the stewards after the session if he is judged to have blocked Dennis.
Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Gunther rounded out the top ten in Berlin
Next up was Oliver Rowland and Sam Bird, while Rene Rast couldn’t match his teammate’s pace with 13th.
Nick Cassidy and Andre Lotterer completed the top 15, with the latter recently retained by Porsche for next season.
It was a disastrous qualifying session for Mercedes, with championship leader de Vries qualifying 19th.
Stoffel Vandoorne didn’t fare any better with the Belgian set to start from 22nd on the grid.
Robin Frijns will start the race from 23rd, making a mistake at the hairpin on his run in the first qualifying group.
Joel Eriksson completes the grid for the first Berlin E-Prix.
Click here for the full FIA Formula E qualifying results from the first Berlin E-Prix