Oliver Rowland set the pace in the opening practice session of the Sanya E-Prix race weekend, heading BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa.
The Nissan e.dams driver set a best lap of a 1m 07.561s to top the timesheets in FP1 for the second E-Prix in a row, with da Costa emerging as the Briton's nearest challenger, 0.064s off the pace to front a 2-3 result for BMW, with team-mate Alexander Sims setting the third fastest time.
In fourth fastest was Lucas di Grassi, 0.191s off the pace while trailing Sims by only 0.001s, with the Season Three champion previously heading the session prior to Rowland's late run that was worthy of the fastest time.
Sebastien Buemi completed the top five in the second Nissan IM01, 0.297s slower than his team-mate while Robin Frijns followed in sixth fastest, with the Envision Virgin Racing driver brushing the barriers on three separate occasions during the 45-minute session.
Struggling with braking problems in the early stages of FP1, Jean-Eric Vergne secured the eighth fastest time for DS Techeetah while Mahindra Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio was eighth fastest.
Jaguar Racing's Mitch Evans was ninth fastest 0.660s off the pace after the Kiwi's best lap of the session was hampered by heavy traffic while Daniel Abt completed the top 10.
Outside of the top 10, Formula E's most recent race winner Edoardo Mortara was 12th fastest while Sam Bird was 15th, with Andre Lotterer completing the field of 22 in the second DS Techeetah car, 2.093s off the pace.
