Sam Bird takes pole position and will have a front row seat for the Long Beach ePrix today as competitor Antonio Felix Da Costa is disqualified due to a tyre pressure issue.
After coming top of his group during qualifying and second in Superpole with a lap time of 57.261, Sam Bird was set to start the 2131m Long Beach Track in P2 behind Team Aguri’s Antonio Felix Da Costa.
In the past hour it has been announced by the FIA and Formula E that Antonia Felix Da Costa has now been disqualified due to tyre pressure issues and will start at the back of the grid, leaving Virgin Racing’s British driver Sam Bird to take pole position:
“I was really pleased with qualifying today but I did think I could have done better at the first turn. I kept thinking, if I can still get round that turn in P2 it’ll still be in a good position. Now I’m taking pole I know there’s everything to play for.”
Bird’s teammate Jean-Eric Vergne also qualified in the top 10 and will start the grid P8. “The speed wasn’t there for me during qualifying but I was very fast during Free Practice this morning and I plan to bring that into the race to gain some places.”
The driver’s have been familiarising themselves with the 2131m Long Beach city track that features seven turns in total, five to the right and two to the left. Lucas Di Grassi and Stephane Sarrazin will take P2 and P3 respectively.
The Long Beach ePrix The Long Beach ePrix will take place today at 16:00 in the streets of downtown Long Beach surrounding the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Centre. For key timings and more information please click here :http://longbeach.fiaformulae.com/