A pair of “DNFs” in the championship has put FIA World Endurance Champion Sebastien Buemi on the fightback trail as he battles to get back in contention for the FIA Formula E Championship but Swiss Sebastien Buemi showed today he has the pace to become the all-electric series first double winner.

Buemi took the pole at Long Beach today with a time of 56.853 – pushing his teammate and championship leader Nico Prost off the pole.

The Punta del Este, Uruguay race winner led German Daniel Abt also pushed past Prost in the dying moments of qualifying.

Prost jumped to the pole in the second qualifying group and held on through to the dying moments of qualifying. After a crash by Vitantonio Liuzzi brought out the red flag, Buemi wasted no time with only minutes left to jump to the front.

Nelson Piquet Jr and Lucas di Grassi rounded out the top five.

“It looked like the track was getting quicker as more rubber was being laid down plus the temperatures were rising,” Buemi said.

“I’m pleased with the result and also a little bit surprised. We will have to see how we get on in the race but for sure we’re starting from a good position.”

Daniel Abt made amends in qualifying after crashing in the opening practice session at the chicane on the front straight.

“That was a very tough qualifying session for us, especially after what happened in FP1,” Abt said.

“We didn’t have a lot of running in FP2 or FP3. I was happy just to be in the top-10, so just incredible with this result. I’m very happy.”

Miami winner Prost still has his sights set on “coast to coast” success despite being pushed off the front row of the grid.

“We’ll have to see what we can do in the race,” Prost said.

“It’s not a bad result and I did my best so I’m happy overall. It looked like the track was improving but I’m pleased with what we’ve achieved and how consistent we’ve been.”

The Long Beach ePrix will go green at 4:04pm. The race can be seen live on Fox Sports 1.