After Group 1’s running, Buemi set the fastest time of 1min09.134, Sam Bird was 2nd with 1:09.388, Da Costa 3rd, Piquet Jr 4th and HoPing Tung 5th.
Buemi commented during an interview that as his Qualifying time was slower than his best time in Practice (1:08.933s), he would expect to be challenged for the top spot and also because the track would rubber in as more cars went out.
It would be a nervous 40minute-wait for the Swiss to see if his provisional pole was safe.
Group 2’s running (Cerruti, Di Grassi, Prost, Servia, Alguersuari) made no changes to the top spot but 2nd placed Bird was displaced by his Virgin Racing team-mate Alguersuari. Di Grassi pushed too hard in his fight for the top spot and slid into one of the barriers. This resulted in a red-flag and a lost opportunity to improve his time.
Cerruti also had “a moment” which initially saw her set an unrepresentative time in the 1min33s but the Italian managed to start another hot lap with just 7 seconds to go and posted 1min11.785s.
Final order after Group 2’s running was Buemi, Alguersuari, Bird, Di Grassi, Prost, Da Costa, Piquet Jr, Servia, Tung and Cerruti
Group 3’s session was generally drama-less although Abt, like his team-mate Di Grassi, pushed quite hard, ran wide and lost some time - qualiying in 11th place.
The final set of drivers included Jean-Eric Vergne - who nabbed pole position on his FormulaE debut at Punta del Este ePrix - who was regarded by most as Buemi’s challenger for pole. Unfortunately Vergne made a few errors and was unable to pose a serious threat to Buemi’s time.
The Trulli team had kept Jarno in the pits a bit longer to guarantee him free (non-turbulent) air to maximise this Qualifying time but he had a shunt, brought out the red flag and did not get to set a time. He would start the race in 20th place.
Buemi kept his spot at the top of the timesheets – pole position and a crucial 3 points.
Bueno Aires Qualifying