Da Costa on pole for Marrakesh ePrix as title rivals flounder

Antonio Felix da Costa scores pole for the Marrakesh ePrix, stealing a march on his other championship rivals who all struggled.

Making it through group the initial group qualifying phase in fourth, the fastest qualifier from group one, da Costa was in prime position to take advantage of the struggles of his rivals.

In the Jaguar garage however, things went instantly and catastrophically wrong for championship leader Mitch Evan, crossing the line to start his lap at exactly the same moment that the checkered flag fell.

Team boss James Barclay said, "It's always tight. We see this time and time again where you're obviously trying to optimize, particularly in group one, the best of the track conditions.

"Honestly, we need to look at the data. Mitch was actually okay coming into the final sector [of his warm up lap], so that was why we actually thought we were fine.

"We tracked the lap all of the way through each of the sectors and coming into the final sector we looked good on time, so in that last sector for some reason we have just lost the time and that looks like it's cost us."

Evans also continued on to complete his hot lap regardless of having crossed the line after the flag fell on the session, placing him under investigation for having taken the flag twice.

In Formula E qualifying, usually the track rubbers in and gains a lot of extra pace as more cars run, but only group two were able to make the most of this situation with Maximilian Gunther (BMW), Andrea Lotterer (Porsche), Edoardo Mortara (Venturi) and Nyck de Vries (Mercedes) all making it into Superpole.

Championship contenders Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes) and Lucas di Grassi (Audi) struggled in group one, qualifying in P18 and P13 respectively.

Former champion Sebastian Buemi (Nissan) also made it into Superpole from group three.

Da Costa was impossible to match in Superpole, setting a lap four-tenths faster than the quickest time of group qualifying as Gunther slipped to second, Lotterer third with deVries, Mortara and Buemi completing the top six.

"The lap was good," said da Costa. "You always leave a bit of lap time here and there. We were here watching and the other guys are coming for it. They actually go quicker here and there, but in the end you have to put it together.

"Super tight between Andre, Maxi and myself.

"I'm just really pleased. We've had a couple of not so good qualifyings, and to be on pole, to come back with a pole position, I'm really happy with that."

Da Costa has finished second in the past two ePrix and made clear what his objective is for later in the day when the clock hits race time adding simply, no pressure right?"

Superpole

1 Antonio Felix da Costa DS Techeetah 1:17.158
2 Maximilian Gunther BMW i Andretti Motorsport +0.069
3 Andre Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team +0.095
4 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team +0.432
5 Edoardo Mortara ROKiT Venturi Racing +0.645
6 Sebastian Buemi Nissan e.dams +0.653

Group Qualifying

1 Maximilian Gunther BMW i Andretti Motorsport 1:17.562
2 Andre Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team +0.020
3 Edoardo Mortara ROKiT Venturi Racing +0.069
4 Antonio Felix da Costa DS Techeetah +0.078
5 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team +0.181
6 Sebastian Buemi Nissan e.dams +0.217
7 Jerome d’Ambrosio Mahindra Racing +0.236
8 Alexander Sims BMW i Andretti Motorsport +0.268
9 Oliver Rowland Nissan e.dams +0.277
10 James Calado Panasonic Jaguar Racing +0.305
11 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah +0.366
12 Brendon Hartley GEOX Dragon +0.382
13 Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team +0.396
14 Robin Frijns Envision Virgin Racing +0.485
15 Sam Bird Envision Virgin Racing +0.502
16 Pascal Wehrlein Mahindra Racing +0.507
17 Nico Muller GEOX Dragon +0.641
18 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team +0.656
19 Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team +0.667
20 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 FE Team +0.751
21 Neel Jani TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team +0.994
22 Felipe Massa ROKiT Venturi Racing +0.994
23 Ma Qinghua NIO 333 FE Team +1.113
DNQ Mitch Evans Panasonic Jaguar Racing No Time Set

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