The victories were Bird's fourth and fifth of his career and he became the first driver to win both races of a double header weekend since Nico Prost at the 2016 London ePrix.

[2] Formula E's founder Alejandro Agag told CNN in May 2016 he was "very optimistic" about the possibility of hosting an event in the city, having visited potential sites there, "Our dream would be to have a race in New York.

[9][6][7] The event was confirmed one week later as part of Formula E's 2016–17 schedule by the FIA World Motor Sports Council as a double header round.

[19] More than $20 million was spent renovating the area which included the dismantling of pedestrian crosswalks, sections of curb and bus canopies because they protruded into the circuit and a terminal guardhouse in the track's centre was rebuilt to make it portable for moving before and after the event.

The clash occurred because the CEO of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Gérard Neveu and teams agreed not to hold a race within four weeks after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Nürburgring required a two-week gap leading into a proposed 30 July date for the German Grand Prix.

[21] Previously Neveu and Agag had a "gentlemen's agreement", preventing their respective series from holding races on the same weekend as several drivers participate in both disciplines.

[25] Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr. (Jaguar) were the first two WEC drivers to confirm their participation in New York in February, with Jaguar's Adam Carroll leaving the endurance racing series to focus on Formula E.[26] Sam Bird reached an agreement with his team AF Corse to contest the New York races,[27] and was partnered at Virgin by the team's development driver Alex Lynn after José María López was required to prioritize WEC by Toyota.

[28] Championship leader Buemi could not reach an agreement that would allow him to enter the first race because of logistical problems, and Toyota mandated he attend the Nürburgring WEC round.

[37] Late in the session, di Grassi drove to the side of the track with a battery management system problem and could not restart his car, necessitating race control to activate the full course yellow procedure.

[30] In the first group of five runners, Vergne paced the session despite minor contact with a barrier lining the circuit, going four-tenths of a second faster than second-placed Duval.

[30] Engel was affected by a problem which emerged before he could record a maximum power lap, forcing di Grassi to slow because yellow flags were waved.

[43] The rest of the field lined up as Heidfeld, Piquet, Turvey, Prost, di Grassi, Sarrazin, Duval, Carroll, Evans, Dillmann, Frijns, Rosenqvist, Félix da Costa, Gasly and Engel.

[51] At the end of the first lap, Abt led from Lynn, who was followed in turn by, Bird, Vergne, Heidfeld, d'Ambrosio, Turvey, Sarrazin, Piquet, and di Grassi.

[51] Swift work from Sarrazin's pit crew promoted him to fourth, while Rosenqvist moved to sixth after starting from 17th position, though his teammate Heidfeld fell to eighth.

[50][52][53] His error promoted di Grassi into fifth place; the impact removed his rear wing, prompting race officials to display a black flag with an orange circle, requiring him to make a pit stop for repairs.

However, he was aware he could reclaim ground in the ePrix's opening phase, and increased his pace to conserve more electrical energy than Bird but felt the latter deserved the victory.

The session ended early when Frijns lost control of his car's rear, and hit the turn ten wall, littering the circuit with debris.

After the penalties, the rest of the grid lined up as Engel, Turvey, Abt, di Grassi, Dillmann, Sarrazin, Evans, d'Ambrosio, Prost, Lynn, Félix da Costa, Duval, Carroll, Frijns and Piquet.

[66][67] Engel ploughed into the rear of Vergne in the first corner, and was shown a black flag with an orange circle, requiring him to enter the pit lane for repairs.

[69] Engel hit a trackside barrier, and drove to pit lane where his team repaired his car and was focused on setting the race's fastest lap.

[58] After locking his right-front brake, Evans ran wide, and stopped his car near the pit lane entry after lightly hitting a wall two laps later.

[67][71] This prompted several drivers, including Mahindra teammates Rosenqvist and Heidfeld, to enter the pit lane for the mandatory change into their second cars on the same lap.

[68] Techeetah drivers Vergne and Sarrazin were caught off guard by the full course yellow, and switched to their second cars just as the field returned to racing speed.

[69] Rosenqvist's team noticed his car had an energy readout issue, and they prompted teammate Heidfeld to overtake him for second on lap 36 to see whether he could draw closer to Bird and pass him.

[67] D'Ambrosio drove to the inside of teammate Duval entering the sixth turn, and passed him, allowing Félix da Costa to draw closer to both Dragon cars.

"[75] He suggested pole position be moved to the right-hand side if Formula E returned to New York City, and did not rule out challenging for victories at the season's final race weekend in Montreal.

Because of the problems affecting his teammate Rosenqvist, he said he made an effort to put pressure on Bird but wanted to drive more calmly following his suspension failure in the previous day's race.

[78] Nevertheless, he described his weekend as "very positive", but did not anticipate his advancing into super pole after having just a day's worth of experience driving in the series: "We had a very busy schedule, especially with me arriving later on during the event.

"[79] Félix da Costa spoke of his disagreement of the drive-through penalty he received from the stewards after his collision with Duval late in the race, something he said ended it competitively for him.

[72] Di Grassi acknowledged his team did not have the pace to challenge for victories in both races, but believed he could improve his situation in the championship and focused on the final two rounds.