The Briton’s 1m12.773s put him to the highest of the instances by almost one tenth from DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne, as lower than half a second lined the highest 10 drivers.
Championship chief Nick Cassidy discovered himself on the prime of the instances after the opening 10 minutes of the session, the Jaguar driver’s 1m13.849s leaving him simply 0.003s away from Abt’s Nico Muller.
It didn’t take lengthy for each to be shuffled down the order, nonetheless, as Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther posted a 1m13.807s with Pascal Wehrlein, winner of the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix, slotting into second lower than half a tenth behind.
Times started to tumble approaching the midway mark of the 30-minute session, with Andretti’s Norman Nato pumping in a 1m13.173s, earlier than Wehrlein lowered the benchmark by an additional 0.172s.
Reigning Formula E champion Jake Dennis turned the primary driver to dip beneath the 1m13s barrier, setting a 1m12.943s with the Briton having acknowledged previous to the occasion that he believed his Andretti workforce had acquired to the underside of grip points that plagued him within the final spherical in Diriyah.
An enchancment by 0.071s put Vandoorne quickest inside the ultimate 10 minutes, earlier than Bird moved to the highest with a 1m12.773s with greater than six minutes remaining.
But a purple flag was deployed shortly after when Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara got here to a halt on the exit of Turn 3 having headed into the run-off space at Turn 1.
The session restarted with one minute remaining, permitting drivers to carry out instillation laps however with not sufficient time to set any flying laps.
Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E Team, Nissan e-4ORCE 04
Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images
It left Nissan’s Oliver Rowland third, as Dennis completed the session fourth from Wehrlein, with the Porsche driver’s team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa finishing the highest six.
Having declared forward of the Sao Paulo occasion that he ‘needed a big result soon’ after a less-than perfect begin to the season, Mitch Evans suffered a suspected entrance driveshaft subject within the opening moments of FP2.
The Jaguar driver was ready solely capable of register seven laps through the session, ending final within the instances as team-mate Cassidy claimed twelfth.
On Friday night in FP1, Evans had set the benchmark with a 1m12.555s having usurped Cassidy along with his ultimate effort because the pair have been separated by simply over two tenths.
Mortara loved higher luck on Friday after ending third from ERT’s Dan Ticktum and Wehrlein.
Guenther completed sixth however has been handed a 20-place grid penalty forward of qualifying afterward Saturday after his Maserati MSG workforce modified the gearbox in his automobile previous to FP2.
