The e.dams-Renault driver posted a 1:09.985s ahead of Andretti’s Jean-Eric Vergne and championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr (NEXTEV TCR).

The 30-minute session saw an early red flag when a mistake from Dragon’s Loic Duval saw him go straight on at Turn 1 and into the barrier. When the session resumed it was Piquet and Lucas di Grassi trading places at the front with the ABT driver edging out his fellow countryman by 0.171s. Piquet responded quickly to go top despite brushing the wall at Turn 12 with his SRT_01E sliding and bouncing around the 2.29km street circuit.

But it was the Swiss driver who was the man to beat and the only one to break into the 1:09s. Just outside the top three was Antonio Felix da Costa and di Grassi, followed by Nick Heidfeld and Karun Chandhok, despite the latter spinning at the Turn 11 hairpin. Jerome D’Ambrosio – the winner from the last ePrix in Berlin – ended eighth ahead of Stephane Sarrazin with Nicolas Prost completing the top 10.

Today’s qualifying session gets underway at 12:00 (local time).

To view the results in full click here.