Vergne takes his third Formula E pole in Moscow

Andretti Formula E’s Jean-Eric Vergne has secured his third pole position of the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship season Saturday morning in Moscow, after also doing so in Uruguay and Miami.

Vergne’s best lap of 1:09.429 edged Nelson Piquet Jr. by just 0.02 of a second in the No. 27 Andretti entry, with Piquet coming in next at 1:09.449 in the No. 99 NextEV Team China Racing entry.

Piquet leads the championship by two points coming into this race, 103-101, over Sebastien Buemi, who qualified fourth in the No. 9 e.dams Renault entry.

The third member of the title battle, Piquet’s adversary Lucas di Grassi, is third on the grid with a best lap of 1:09.685 in the No. 11 Audi Sport Abt entry. Di Grassi is 10 points back of Piquet after he was disqualified from the most recent race in Berlin.

Jerome d’Ambrosio, in the No. 7 car for Dragon Racing, starts fifth the race after he inherited the win at Berlin.

Vergne isn’t in the championship running and by pure pace standards should have won a race by now; however, with Moscow the penultimate race weekend of the championship before a two-race finale in London later this month, he is also well-positioned to play spoiler in the Piquet vs. di Grassi battle. Buemi, too, could interrupt the rivalry between the two Brazilians.

Of note, Justin Wilson qualified 13th for his Formula E debut in the No. 28 Andretti car, where he fills in for Scott Speed. Antonio Garcia qualified 14th in his return in the second NextEV TCR car, in for Charles Pic.

The race occurs later today.