Nicolas Prost made history by clinching the inaugural pole position of the all new electric FIA Formula E Championship on the streets of Beijing.
The son of four-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost, posted a session best time of 1.42.200s to pip Lucas di Grassi by a tenth of a second to the all important pole position.
The Abt squad enjoyed a strong showing with the sister car of former GP2 racer Daniel Abt claiming third on the grid just a tenth further back.
Prost, who set the time in the third of four, five-car qualifying sessions, was lucky not to end qualifying with significant damage, having made contact with the barrier shortly after his pole lap.
The Frenchman locked his brakes entering the penultimate corner which saw the e.dams driver clip the barrier.
Meanwhile, Mahindra’s Karun Chandhok will start the first ever Formula E race from fourth having posted a time just a hundredth of a second adrift of Abt.
It proved to be closely fought session with just a little over half a second covering the top 10.
Andretti Autosport’s Franck Montagny was fifth fractionally ahead of former F1 stars Nick Heidfeld (Venturi) and Jaime Alguersuari (Virgin Racing).
The championship’s newest recruit Charles Pic was eighth for Andretti Autosport, while Sebastien Buemi, who dominated pre-season testing at Donington Park, clocked a time good enough for ninth.
Brazil’s Nelson Piquet jnr rounded out the top 10 for local team China Racing.
F1 grand prix winner Jarno Trulli, Bruno Senna and Stephane Sarrazin all failed to post a time.
FIA Formula E Championship Qualifying Results
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
| 1 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams | 1:42.200s | |
| 2 | Lucas di Grassi | Abt | 1:42.306s | +0.106s |
| 3 | Daniel Abt | Abt | 1:42.454s | +0.254s |
| 4 | Karun Chandhok | Mahindra | 1:42.461s | +0.261s |
| 5 | Franck Montagny | Andretti | 1:42.530s | +0.330s |
| 6 | Nick Heidfeld | Venturi | 1:42.579s | +0.379s |
| 7 | Jaime Alguersuari | Virgin | 1:42.683s | +0.483s |
| 8 | Charles Pic | Andretti | 1:42.726s | +0.526s |
| 9 | Sebastien Buemi | e.dams | 1:42.746s | +0.546s |
| 10 | Nelson Piquet | China | 1:42.785s | +0.585s |
| 11 | Oriol Servia | Dragon | 1:42.847s | +0.647s |
| 12 | Sam Bird | Virgin | 1:42.918s | +0.718s |
| 13 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Dragon | 1:44.056s | +1.856s |
| 14 | Takuma Sato | Aguri | 1:44.129s | +1.929s |
| 15 | Ho-Pin Tung | China | 1:45.282s | +3.082s |
| 16 | Katherine Legge | Aguri | 1:45.369s | +3.169s |
| 17 | Michela Cerruti | Trulli | 1:46.170s | +3.970s |
| 18 | Jarno Trulli | Trulli | No Time | |
| 19 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra | No Time | |
| 20 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | No Time |
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