Rowland logged a 1m10.559s at the death of FP1, preceded by a 15-minute shakedown earlier in the day, dispatching Antonio Felix da Costa from the top of the times to draw first blood for the 2021-22 season.
Da Costa had originally been able to hold on from a late onslaught by DS Techeetah team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne to cement the fastest time, but Rowland's last-minute effort left the Portuguese driver second - 0.158s off the best time.
Sam Bird set the first time unaffected by an early, performatory full-course yellow, a 1m18.635, but the times quickly tumbled as his Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans immediately sent the British driver down a spot and went six-tenths faster.
Bird had earlier labelled the track "horrendous", owing to a huge concentration of dust all over the road surface owing to desert sand and local construction work.
As the dust began to clear, the laptimes dropped into the 1m15s, with Pascal Wehrlein posting a 1m15.867s before the Porsche driver was dispatched by Sebastien Buemi's 1m15.622s.
De Vries then punctuated the opening 10 minutes with another full-course yellow, sliding on the dust at Turn 3 and clouting the barrier with his left-rear wheel for a dose of suspension damage.
Once running resumed after the Dutchman had retreated to an exit road, Buemi continued to wind down the times with a 1m14.023s, until two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne set a 1m13.716s.
Evans and Wehrlein then nudged past Vergne, until Robin Frijns clocked a 1m13.411s to sit top of the times at the half-way stage.
Frijns' minute-long reign at the top of the timesheets was ended by Evans diving into the 1m12s, but the circuit continued to evolve as Stoffel Vandoorne broke into the 1m11s - although was overhauled in
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