Da Costa secures his second Formula E pole position

After a closely-matched qualifying session, DS Techeetah driver Antonio Felix da Costa clinched pole position in Marrakesh while championship leader Mitch Evans endured a disaster with a badly timed flying lap.

Following two second-place finishes in the previous two rounds in Chile and Mexico, Antonio Felix da Costa continued his streak of success with securing his second career pole position for the Marrakesh E-Prix. The Portuguese’s performance was particularly impressive considering that he was one of the drivers in the first qualifying group due to his championship position.

As usual, the qualifying kicked off in a rather relaxed way due to its special system that forces the six best-placed drivers in the championship to start the session. With just over three minutes left on the clock, drivers headed out to the track. Championship leader Mitch Evans crossed the finish line exactly at the time when the chequered flag was shown, depriving the New-Zealender of setting a meaningful lap time. Antonio Felix da Costa clocked the fastest lap with a time of 1m17.640 in front of BMW driver Alexander Sims and Audi driver Lucas di Grassi.

The second qualifying session also started slowly as drivers were waiting for each other to clear the track. With the improving grip level, Maximilian Guenther beat the previous best lap with a time of 1m17.562, but Andre Lotterer, Edoardo Mortara and Nick de Vries also managed to secure a place in the actual top six.

Even if the grip level of the track improved for the third qualifying segment, drivers found it hard to challenge the previous times. In the end, only Sebastien Buemi managed to get inside the top six drivers, hoping for an appearance in the superpole segment.

The last qualifying group included Felipe Massa, Brendon Hartley, Oliver Turvey, Nico Mueller, Neel Jani and Ma Qinghua. Outbraking himseld twice, Felipe Massa did once again a crucial mistake on his hot lap and only finished 21th. The others also failed to threaten the leading pack despite to the imrpoving track conditions.

In the superpole session, Antonio Felix da Costa put in an impressive performance by setting a lap time of 1m17.158. On his way to the pole position, the Portuguese came dauntingly close to the walls, delivering a masterful qualifying lap. Maximilian Guenther and Andre Lotterer were also quick with both of them being just under a tenth shy of da Costa’s time.