Mercedes-Benz EQ’s Nyck De Vries topped the timing sheets in both season-opening practice sessions.
The Dutch driver comfortably topped the first session after a late effort on maximum 250kW power saw him become the only driver to lap below 1m09s.
He then repeated this feat in the second practice session this morning, leading a Mercedes 1-2, 0.177s ahead of teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.
ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Edoardo Mortara closed the session in third.
De Vries set the pace from early on, with his quickest lap a 1:08.583, about a tenth under his best time from yesterday’s practice.
Practice was brought to a halt halfway through after Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Nico Mueller spun into the wall at Turn 7.
The Swiss driver said: “I don’t really know what happened, I got a big, big snap in Turn 7.
“Maybe we were a bit optimistic in doing too many laps in row without cooling down.”
However, today’s session in the Saudi Arabian sun is less representative of race pace, as tonight’s race will be the first Formula E race to take place under the cover of darkness.
After Mueller’s car was cleared, the season was soon cut short once more as Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijins found himself in the barriers.
The session was then prematurely ended due to the damage.
Mercedes-Benz EQ will be happy with the pace they have shown in both sessions so far.
De Vries closed the first practice session over half a second ahead of Porsche’s Andre Lotterer, as drivers clocked up the fastest times at the Riyadh Street Circuit on record.
Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland once again finished strongly with fourth after fifth yesterday, ahead of Lotterer and Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Sergio Sette Camara.
Alex Lynn took seventh with Mahindra Racing’s new powertrain from transmission specialist ZF, just ahead of the second Nissan e.dams of Sebastien Buemi. Buemi had struggled down in 18th in the first practice session, due to braking issues at the Turn 18 and 19 chicanes.
Kiwi Mitch Evans was the lead Jaguar in ninth, with him and Sam Bird split by the BMW I Andretti Motorsport of Maximillian Gunther.
Frijins managed to close the session in 12th , despite his crash. Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Rene Rast was just over one second down from De Vries in 13th.
The second ROKiT Venturi Racing of Norman Nato finished in 14th, with the rookie ahead of Audi’s Lucas Di Grassi.
Pascal Wehrlein in the second Porsche was 1.4s behind the leader but managed to narrowly pip the other Mahindra of Alexander Sims to 17th.
It was a difficult session for the DS Techeetahs with reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa in 18th and his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne in 20th.
Oliver Turvey split the Techeetahs in 19th, with his teammate Tom Blomqvist in 21st.
British rookie Jake Dennis was down in 22nd, ahead of Nico Mueller and Envision Virgin Racing’s Nick Cassidy brought up the back of the pack in 24th.
Now drivers thoughts will turn to qualifying and given their pace in both practices, the Mercedes’ of De Vries and Vandoorne have to be the favourites for Super Pole contenders.
