Sam Bird was quickest in first practice for the Putrajaya round of the 2014-15 Formula E championship. The Brit ran the fastest lap at 1:21.496 seconds (68.469 MPH). Dragon Racing's Jérôme d'Ambrosio was second fastest, 0.547 seconds back of the British driver. Sébastian Buemi was third driving for e.dams. The Belgian was 0.760 seconds slower than Bird. Oriol Servià made it two Dragon cars in the top four as he was 1.088 seconds back. Nicolas Prost rounded out the top five, 1.178 seconds back.
Karun Chandhok was sixth as the Mahindra Racing driver was followed by the Andretti Auotsport drivers Matthew Brabham and Franck Montagny. Brabham was over three-tenths quicker than his teammate in practice. China Racing's Nelson Piquet, Jr. was ninth but suffered rear suspension damage late in the session. Jarno Trulli rounded out the top ten, 1.918 seconds back of Bird.
Bruno Senna was 11th, 3.036 seconds back of Bird. Bird's Virgin Racing teammate Jaime Alguersuari was 12th, 3.175 seconds behind his teammate. Beijing winner Lucas di Grassi was 13th with his Audi Sport ABT teammate Daniel Abt 0.001 seconds behind him. Stéphane Sarrazin rounded out the top fifteen, 3.791 seconds behind Bird. Nick Heidfeld followed his Venturi Grand Prix teammate on the timesheet but the German's session ended prematurely after an accident in turn three.
Super Aguri teammates Katherine Legge and António Félix da Costa were 17th and 18th with Legge 4.678 seconds slower than her fellow Brit Bird and da Costa 4.877 seconds back. Ho-Pin Tung was 5.124 seconds back in 19th and Michele Cerruti was slowest in the session, 5.864 seconds back. Her session ended prematurely after losing a wheel.
Qualifying will take place at 9:00 a.m. ET with the race at 1:00 a.m. ET Saturday morning. The can be seen live on Fox Sports 2.
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