F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Virgin's Bird flies in Marrakesh - secures ePrix super pole!

Virgin Racing's Sam Bird took flight in Marrakesh on Saturday, pipping DS Techeetah's Jean-Eric Vergne to pole position for today's ABB FIA Formula E race by just 0.046 seconds.

It was hardly a straightforward session for Bird however who found himself on the receiving end of a bizarre pitlane incident.

While everyone was winding down after the third group session, NIO's Tom Dillman rammed the back of Robin Frijns who in turn was pushed into Bird's car, damaging the Virgin racer's diffuser.

Bird was forced to deal with the issue as a repair job could not be conducted by his crew under parc Fermé rules. Undeterred, the Brit put in stunning effort to beat Vergne to pole by the closest margin.

The reigning Formula E champion will start this afternoon's race at the Circuit Moulay El Hassan on the front row, followed by series leader Antonio Felix da Costa.

However, the BMW i Andretti driver is under investigation for exceeding his 200kW allocation during the group running.

Behind the Portuguese charger, DAMS Sebastian Buemi, Andretti's Alexander Sims and Jaguar's Mitch Evans rounded off the Super Pole top-six.

While missing the super pole cut, Pascal Wehrlein's first Formula E qualifying put the former F1 driver impressive P7 with Mahindra, the German edging Frijns, Nelson Piquet and team mate Jérôme d'Ambrosio.

©FormulaE

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Wolff admits Antonelli ‘scares me’ and he explains why

Formula 1’s championship leader Kimi Antonelli’s rise is happening so fast that even Toto Wolff…

4 hours ago

Verstappen sets high bar for grueling Nürburgring 24 Hours debut

Max Verstappen is heading into one of motorsport’s most punishing arenas with a mindset that…

6 hours ago

Piastri handed stark warning over any future Red Bull gamble

Oscar Piastri may one day face the kind of Formula 1 decision that has destroyed…

7 hours ago

When sportsmanship took a back seat to Ferrari's interests

Team orders in Formula 1 have always been a controversial subject, but on this day…

9 hours ago

Lundgaard ends McLaren’s half-century Indy drought

History came roaring back to life in a big way last Saturday at Indianapolis. Christian…

9 hours ago

Sargeant: Verstappen would ‘kick everyone’s ass’ in the WEC

It’s almost a given that, at some point in the coming years, Max Verstappen will…

10 hours ago