Jose Maria Lopez gave the local fans some early cheer by setting the pace in the opening free practice session in Argentina.
The DS Virgin Racing driver did a 200kw qualifying simulation to set his best time of 1:09.431s to lead the way.
However, when Antonio Felix da Costa’s car broke down with around five minutes of the session remaining, practice was brought to a premature halt and denied almost all of his rivals a chance to show their ultimate pace.
It was a tough session for da Costa, who had a sizeable accident mid-way through practice, when he backed his Andretti car into the wall at the chicane.
“I tried to have a look and it looked OK, for sure the tub is fine,” he said. “I don’t like doing these things I don’t often crash, I guess it happened to me this time. It’s just my mistake. It happens.”
Jean-Eric Vergne was second fastest for TECHEETAH, Mitch Evans – the only other driver to do a 200kw lap – was third fastest for Panasonic Jaguar Racing, while championship leader Sebastien Buemi was fourth for Renault e.dams.
Despite heavy grey clouds lurking overhead the session stayed dry, but there remains a very strong possibility of rain at some point during the day.
The action resumes with Free Practice 2 at 10.30am local time.