Sebastien Buemi set the pace in the opening practice session of the weekend at the Punta del Este ePrix for Renault e.dams.
Buemi topped the morning session with a 1:14.536, smashing the circuit's previous lap record which was set by Jean-Eric Vergne in qualifying for the inaugural Uruguayan round in 2014.
Buemi's nearest challenger was Jaguar Racing's Mitch Evans, who was 0.343 seconds adrift of the Swiss racer in second place after losing time behind traffic in the form of NIO's Luca Filippi in the final sector of his fastest lap. The New Zealander also suffered from reliability problems, grinding to a halt in the pit lane in the mid-way point of the session.
Lucas di Grassi completed the top three for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler, 0.405 seconds off the pace and was closely followed by DS Virgin Racing's Alex Lynn who was only 0.095 seconds off the reigning champion in fourth.
Techeetah's Vergne was fifth fastest, 0.562 seconds off the pace followed by his championship rival, Sam Bird, who was sixth in the second DS Virgin Racing car.
Nelson Piquet Jr was seventh fastest in the second Jaguar while Mexico City's second place man Oliver Turvey was eighth fastest for NIO, edging out Daniel Abt who was ninth while Nico Prost completed the top ten in the second Renault.
Outside of the top ten, Mahindra Racing experienced a difficult session after facing a double retirement at the Mexico City ePrix two weeks ago, with Nick Heidfeld finishing the session in 12th fastest while championship contender, Felix Rosenqvist, struggled down in 18th, having multiple off-track excursions throughout the 45-minute session.
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