Vergne won the pole position after di Grassi, Alex Lynn and Oliver Turvey were penalised for exceeding track limits in qualifying and maintained the lead on the first lap.

The race was temporarily neutralised between the fourth and sixth laps when officials extracted the car of Nick Heidfeld who stopped with power issues.

Vergne led di Grassi at the restart and the latter remained close behind the former in the next 13 laps until the field made mandatory pit stops to change into a second car.

The Punta del Este ePrix, discontinued after the 2015–16 Formula E season because no financial agreement was reached by the Government of Uruguay to keep it going,[4] was announced as part of the Formula E calendar in a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 7 December 2017 after São Paulo authorities requested a cancellation of their planned race due to a delay in selling land to a private owner.

[5] The Punta del Este ePrix was part of an alternative plan devised by series founder and CEO Alejandro Agag in case any race was cancelled.

[7] The circuit is situated on the Playa Brava Beach, meaning sand was laid on the tarmac surface and affected the levels of grip available to drivers.

[13] All bar one of the flexible bollards that were situated around the track in the last two Punta del Este races were removed by officials from the world governing body of motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and the "sausage" kerbing at the entry of the four chicanes was dismantled.

These changes prompted officials to establish a specific area for drivers to stop in should they miss the turning point for the chicanes before rejoining the track during all sessions.

[13] José María López (Dragon) agreed that the kerbing could be negotiated without any major issues and António Félix da Costa (Andretti) praised the "fast and dangerous" nature of the circuit that the changes created.

[14] However, the Audi pair of Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt called for the further adjustment of the kerbs as they feared the possibility of an accident occurring.

It was called after teams were issued clarifications and remainders of pit stop procedures and possibly in response to an injury sustained by a Techeetah mechanic by driver André Lotterer in the preceding Mexico City ePrix.

[16] Additionally, the FIA stressed the responsibility of ensuring the safety of pit stops and seat belt fastening remained with teams and drivers.

[17] A half hour shakedown session topped by López and di Grassi was held on the Friday afternoon prior to practice to allow teams to check the reliability of their cars and electronic systems.

The rest of the top ten were Alex Lynn (Virgin), Vergne, Bird, Piquet, Oliver Turvey (NIO), Abt and Nico Prost (e.Dams-Renault).

[21] During the session, which saw several drivers finding their limits with the track and kerbing and causing them to venture onto the run-off areas,[21][22] Evans stopped in the entry to the pit lane with a technical problem with ten minutes remaining and required outside assistance for recovery to his garage.

[17] The first group of five drivers was predicted to be a disadvantage as the circuit was still slippery from the sand being blown from the beaches but had no one make contact with the barriers lining the track.

[27] Lynn demoted the previous fastest group driver López who made an error on his lap and took third, behind the second-placed Lotterer but ahead of Félix da Costa.

[26][1] Prost was the second group's slowest competitor because he bent his car's steering arm when he hit a trackside bollard, which speared him into the wall at a 45-degree angle at high speed leaving the turn 15 and 16 chicane.

[27] Di Grassi clinched provisional pole position through a large amount of commitment into the first chicane with a lap of 1 minute, 13.948 seconds but was put under investigation for hitting the bollard at turn 16 and 17.

[26][27] After qualifying, di Grassi, Lynn and Turvey's lap times were discarded and dropped one place while Evans was demoted to 16th because his car's weight distribution was 300 grams (11 oz) outside the amount permitted.

[32][33] Filippi dropped three places for overspeeding under red flag conditions during practice and Blomqvist started at the back of the grid for changing his gearbox.

[40] Di Grassi regained some ground and quickly drew closer to Vergne while Turvey was unable to remain with the leaders and Abt began to battle him.

[38] Piquet lost positions to Filippi, Rosenqvist and Evans as he was placed wide at the final chicane and Vergne completed the first lap with di Grassi following closely in second.

[3][41] Race control offered Heidfeld a small amount of time to restart his car but could not do so while his teammate Rosenqvist overtook Filippi for 12th on the third lap.

[44][45] Buemi's barrier glance deranged his left-rear suspension rod and he entered the pit lane to get into his second car on the following lap since the problem had worsened.

The Dragon duo of López and d'Ambrosio took eighth and ninth due to their strategy of running one lap longer than the rest of the field and Engel came tenth.

"[34][51] He spoke of his effort of staying within reach of Vergne and di Grassi and revealed he wanted them to challenge both slightly more to give him an opportunity to win the race.

"[53] Di Grassi apologised to the stewards, vowed not to repeat the infraction in the future and said Punta del Este's hot weather caused his previous pair to soak up body sweat.

"[48] Audi team principal Allan McNish surmised Abt's issue prevented the driver from getting onto the podium but was more positive that his cars finished the race.

[48] Evans reckoned he could have taken his first victory and revealed the weight issue that demoted him to 16th was due to a change of battery between second practice and qualifying being 3 kg (6.6 lb) lighter than the one it replaced, "We can't argue with it – that's the way it rolls.