Alexander Sims set the pace in the opening practice session of Formula E's season-closing New York City E-Prix, heading Nissan e.dams' Sebastien Buemi.
The BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver set a fastest lap of a 1m 09.959s to top the 45-minute session, with Nissan's Buemi trailing the Briton by only 0.018s.
Envision Virgin Racing's Robin Frijns ended the session with the third-fastest time, with his final run of the session placing him inside the top three, 0.234s adrift of Sims.
Drivers' Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne experienced a scrappy FP1, with the DS Techeetah driver experiencing multiple offs at Turn 6 while the Frenchman also briefly made contact with the barriers on his way to the fourth-fastest time.
Antonio Felix da Costa completed the top five in the second BMW entry. 0.327s slower than his team-mate while Bern podium finisher Mitch Evans was sixth for Panasonic Jaguar Racing.
Edoardo Mortara was the fastest Venturi Formula E driver in first practice, the Swss-Italian racer setting the seventh fastest time for the Monegasque squad, heading Andre Lotterer who was eighth in the second DS Techeetah car.
Oliver Rowland held the fastest time in the early stages of FP1, however, ended the session in ninth, 0.547s slower than Sims while Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 10 for HWA Racelab in what will be the team's final race weekend in Formula E ahead of Mercedes' takeover of the team for Season 6.
Daniel Abt fronted an 11-12 in practice for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler, with championship contender di Grassi trailing Sims by 0.645s.
Maximilian Gunther, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Jose Maria Lopez followed di Grassi to complete the top 15 while Tom Dillmann, Pascal Wehrlein, Sam Bird, Felipe Massa, Oliver Turvey, Alex Lynn and Gary Paffett completed the field.






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