The first qualifying session of the FIA Formula E championship brought mixed fortunes for the Mahindra Racing team. Karun Chandhok qualified his car a fantastic fourth on the grid, while team mate Bruno Senna faced heartbreak after he failed to set a time due to battery failure, despite being the fastest in practice earlier in the day.

First free practice early this morning gave the drivers their first real taste of the circuit, which twists it’s away around Beijing’s iconic Olympic Park. Senna’s final lap showed promised, the Mahindra Racing man set the quickest first and second sectors of the session before aborting the lap due to an accident at the final corner. Both drivers gained valuable information on the track however and spent an hour debriefing before returning to action for second practice later this morning.

As second practice got underway, once again the Mahindra Racing drivers spent time getting to grips with the tight circuit. Senna’s promised pace from session one came to fruition 15 minutes in, when the Brazilian went quickest by over three tenths of a second following a purple first and second sector. Senna’s time remained unbeaten for the remainder of the session, which ended three minutes early due to red flags after Ho Pin Tung ended his session in the barriers.

In Formula E’s unique one day format, this morning’s two practice sessions were quickly followed by the all-important qualifying. Split into four groups by random lottery, Chandhok was drawn to qualify in the first group while Senna the last.

Chandhok took to the track first and from the outset was quickest in his group. As the Indian racer built up the pace, so his time improved with the chequered flag seeing Chandhok quickest in his group with a time of 1.42.461.

Both Chandhok and Senna watched sessions two and three, as the other drivers put in their best efforts for the grid.  Following the efforts of the second group, Chandhok was still on provisional pole. Group three took their turn on track, and by the flag Chandhok was a provisional fourth.

Sitting in his Mahindra Racing machine, earlier pace setter Senna was ready for his qualifying session. The Brazilian was soon to face massive misfortune though, after an error message relating to the battery left him unable to start the session. With just seconds remaining Senna was able to head out on track, but with no time to start a flying lap, he did not set a qualifying time.

Reflecting on his session, fourth placed man Chandhok said, “I’m really happy with fourth. I think maybe it would have been P5 had Bruno gone out, as I think the track improved a bit, so it’s really unfortunate for him that he wasn’t able to set a lap. But I think there’s a lot we can do from fourth place, hopefully we can have a clean race. The aim is to get a podium but we’ll have to see how it goes; street circuits can be very unpredictable. We’ll do our best, the team have done a great job so far and we’ll just keep plugging away.”

An understandably disappointed Senna added. “It’s a shame we missed an opportunity to be in the mix at the front of the race, but I’m sure I’m not going to be the only one to have problems this season. It’s a disappointment but we have a race to do now, and that’s what I’m focusing on.”

Team Principal Dilbagh Gill added, “We’re delighted to see Karun representing Mahindra Racing near the front of the grid, but of course it is very disappointing for Bruno that he is not able to repeat his pace in practice. These are the pit falls of a new technology and championship, but we must hold onto the positives – in that we have shown great pace so far this weekend. I’ve no doubt that Bruno will fight back during the race and we look forward to seeing what Karun can do from fourth on the grid.”

The first ever Formula E race will take place at 16.00 local time.