Sam Bird of Virgin began from the pole position after the fastest driver in qualifying Team Aguri's António Félix da Costa was sent to the rear of the grid for an illegal tire pressure.

In the Teams' Championship, Audi Sport ABT reduced e.Dams-Renault's lead to six points, and Dragon fell from second to third with four races left in the season.

The 2016 Long Beach ePrix was confirmed as part of Formula E's 2015–16 schedule in July 2015 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

[7] A later Long Beach City Council resolution authorizing the closure of pathways lining the track was adopted in March 2016.

The issue is now closed for me and I’m only looking forward now: six races, a good 150 points – there is plenty to aim for and our ambition remains unbroken.

"[11] Abt stated beforehand that his objective in Long Beach was to enter the super pole session of qualifying and to contend for a podium place.

[12] A half-hour shakedown on Friday afternoon was led by Duval with a time of 1 minute, 8.016 seconds, followed by his teammate d'Ambrosio and NextEV's Nelson Piquet Jr.[1] Overnight alterations were made to the turn one chicane after drivers raised concerns about its tightness.

[13] In the first practice session, held in misty weather and an ambient temperature of 59 °F (15 °C),[13] Buemi lapped fastest with a time of 57.383 seconds.

Salvador Durán was the quicker Aguri driver in fifth, and his teammate António Félix da Costa was seventh; they were separated by Stéphane Sarrazin's Venturi in sixth.

[14] Although the session passed relatively peacefully, Di Grassi ran straight off the dirty track at the turn one chicane, and lightly touched a barrier.

[14][15] Venturi's Mike Conway, a two-time winner of the Long Beach Grand Prix,[16] went straight on under braking for turn five, but he avoided striking a wall.

[14] In the shorter second free practice session, held i clear weather,[17] the temperature of the track was rising, and drivers immediately drove onto it to familiarize themselves with setting lap times at 200 kW (270 hp) of power.

Mahindra's Nick Heidfeld, Sarrazin, Prost and Buemi all held the lead until Abt set the overall fastest lap time of 56.778 seconds with seven minutes remaining.

Buemi, Di Grassi, Félix da Costa, Frijns, Bird, Prost, Senna, Sarrazin, and d'Ambrosio made up second to tenth places.

The fastest five overall competitors in the four groups participated in a "Super Pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first.

[15] Buemi eased off his accelerator pedal and lost a plethora of grip entering the first turn, and that meant he could drive into the corner in the method he desired due to him carrying excess oversteer, and he was third-fastest.

[20] It appeared at this point that the five drivers who would progress to super pole had been decided, but Félix da Costa was fastest in the fourth group.

[21][26] After qualifying, Félix da Costa had all of his lap times deleted because a post-qualifying scrutineering inspection discovered the pressure in his left-rear tire was 0.05-bar (5.0 kPa) below the permitted limit.

[28] The application of penalties meant Bird began from pole position, ahead of Di Grassi, Sarrazin, Heidfeld, Frijns, Abt, Buemi, Prost, d'Ambrosio, Senna, Vergne, De Silvestro, Turvey, Conway, Duran, Duval, Piquet, and Félix da Costa.

[32][33] Although the entire field avoided a major incident on the first lap, Frijns braked heavily for turn one, but he retained control of his car, and fifth from Abt.

Heidfeld then locked his rear tyres and ran deep entering turn five, losing further places to Abt, and the e.Dams-Renault duo of Buemi and Prost.

[35] Bird led Di Grassi by half a second as he conserved his electrical energy usage in the early part of the race.

[34][36] That lap, Di Grassi caught Bird off guard,[34] and got a better run to pass him on the inside into turn five to take the lead.

[31] But, during his out-lap on lap 23,[34][37] he locked his cold brakes into turn five, and lightly touched the exit tire barrier with the front of his car.

[12] On lap 33, Duran was imposed a drive-through penalty for exceeding the maximum amount of permitted electrical energy of 170 kW (230 hp) in his first car during the first half of the race.

[31][33][34] In the meantime, Félix da Costa entered the pit lane to retire from eighth with a broken suspension wishbone.

[15][34][41] The safety car was withdrawn at the conclusion of lap 38, and racing resumed without incident as Di Grassi led Sarrazin and Abt.

"[44] Sarrazin said he was happy with the pace of both of his cars allowing him to race at the front of the field and finish second, "We have been so close to a win so many times since the beginning of the Formula-E series.

"[41] Félix da Costa bemoaned the lost opportunity to win after his qualifying times were deleted due to an irregular tire pressure, saying, "Finally I had the chance to compete for a race clean and it got taken away.

[10] The Long Beach ePrix was dropped from the Formula E calendar in July 2016 because race organizers and the series could not agree on a financial agreement to continue the event.