Di Grassi leads first practice

Lucas di Grassi set the pace in the first official practice session for the HKT Hong Kong ePrix.

The Brazilian Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport driver was the first driver to break into the 1:02s around the Central Harbourfront circuit, setting a best of 1:02.381s.

This gave him a small advantage over last year’s championship rival, Renault e.dams’ Sebatien Buemi of 0.145s. Daniel Abt underlined the family team’s form by going third fastest.

The tight and technical track caught out a number of drivers, with Abt, Ma Qing Hua, Sam Bird and Robin Frijns all having spins, the latter causing the session to be red-flagged as he blocked the track.

The session was also stopped when Oliver Turvey’s NextEV Nio car stopped on track.

It was a tough first session for Panasonic Jaguar Racing with Adam Carroll and Mitch Evans 19^th and 20^th respectively.