Sam Bird set the pace in second practice ahead of qualifying for the first leg of the Diriyah E-Prix.
In what was a traffic-ridden 30-minute session, the Briton set the fastest time as the chequered flag waved, setting a 1:14.353 to secure first for Envision Virgin Racing.
Antonio Felix da Costa emerged as Bird's nearest challenger, the DS Techeetah driver trailing the Envision Virgin car by 0.794s.
ROKiT Venturi Racing showed encouraging pace in FP2 with its customer Mercedes-Benz powertrain as Edoardo Mortara secured the third-fastest time while Sebastien Buemi fronted a 4-5 result for Nissan e.dams, outpacing team-mate Oliver Rowland who completed the top five.
Daniel Abt was the fastest Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler driver in sixth although the German pilot is under investigation after impeding James Calado – an incident that caused the Jaguar Racing driver to clatter the barriers and pick up a left-rear puncture.
Mahindra Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio was seventh while Robin Frijns, who was the fastest driver in FP1, was eighth. Andre Lotterer followed in ninth while Pascal Wehrlein completed the top 10.
