Only the racing lines were dry at the beginning of the first practice, however this was enough for having a drastic improvement of lap times compared to the early morning test session.
Tom Coronel clipped a stack of tyres and broke a front wheel-arch of his Chevrolet; this forced him to the pits for a quick repair.
Citroën drivers filled the top spots of the time sheet in the first half of the session, with José María López (1:07.702) and Yvan Muller (1:07.851) being the first to break the 1:08. wall.
Tiago Monteiro showed once again that he and his Honda Civic are at ease on this track and posted a new provisional fastest lap of 1:07.676.
This did not last for long as Sébastien Loeb improved further to 1:07.269 and then López was able to go under the 1:07. mark with an impressive 1:06.791.
This seemed to settle the matter, until Monteiro jumped on top once again with a lap of 1:06.621, demoting the Argentine to second. Local hero Ma Qing Hua posted the third fastest lap (1:06.937) immediately before the session was red-flagged for good with 40 seconds left after López’s car got stranded onto the gravel trap at T8.
James Thompson was the fastest of the LADA drivers in eighth (1:07.410), while the best Chevrolet was Gianni Morbidelli’s in 11th (1:07.867). Franz Engstler set the pace in TC2T class (1:09.722).
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:06.621 |
| 2 | José Maria LOPEZ | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:06.791 |
| 3 | Qing Hua MA | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:06.937 |
| 4 | Norbert MICHELISZ | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:07.005 |
| 5 | Gabriele TARQUINI | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:07.229 |
| 6 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:07.269 |
| 7 | Mehdi BENNANI | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:07.310 |
| 8 | James THOMPSON | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:07.410 |
| 9 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:07.471 |
| 10 | Yvan MULLER | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:07.851 |
| 11 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:07.867 |
| 12 | Tom CHILTON | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:07.958 |
| 13 | Rob HUFF | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:07.997 |
| 14 | Hugo VALENTE | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:08.206 |
| 15 | Dusan BORKOVIC | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:08.311 |
| 16 | Tom CORONEL | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:08.470 |
| 17 | René MUNNICH | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:08.702 |
| 18 | Franz ENGSTLER | BMW E90 320 TC | 1:09.722 |
| 19 | Michael John SOONG | Seat Leon WTCC | 1:11.368 |
| 20 | John FILIPPI | Seat Leon WTCC | 1:11.954 |
| 21 | Filipe DE SOUZA | BMW E90 320 TC | 1:13.018 |