The sun broke down through the early morning fog just in time to welcome the drivers as they hit the track for the first free practice.
It was an eventless session, topped by Yvan Muller who set the fastest lap of 1:51.060 on his first outing. Most of the others did pretty much the same, posting their fastest laps in the early stages.
Gabriele Tarquini ranked second, two tenths behind the leader (1:51.273), closely followed by José María López (1:51.326), Ma Qing Hua (1:51.588), Tiago Monteiro (1:51.627), Sébastien Loeb (1:51.771), Tom Chilton (1:51.790) and Norbert Michelisz (1:51.885). These seven drivers were the only ones to complete a lap under the 1:52. mark and were covered by only eight tenths.
Tom Coronel and Mehdi Bennani rounded off the top-ten, while the LADA cars struggled to be on the pace and remained at the bottom of the TC1 class.
Once again Franz Engstler was fastest in the TC2T class (1:56.804) ahead of John Filippi.
There were only a couple of thrilling moments during the session: Dušan Borković spun at T4, rejoined and pitted for replacing a broken wheelarch, while Hugo Valente outbraked himself at T14 in a cloud of smoke.
The second free practice will kick off at 10.40.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yvan MULLER | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:51.060 |
| 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.273 |
| 3 | José Maria LOPEZ | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:51.326 |
| 4 | Qing Hua MA | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:51.588 |
| 5 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.627 |
| 6 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:51.771 |
| 7 | Tom CHILTON | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:51.790 |
| 8 | Norbert MICHELISZ | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.885 |
| 9 | Tom CORONEL | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:52.403 |
| 10 | Mehdi BENNANI | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:52.610 |
| 11 | Hugo VALENTE | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:52.864 |
| 12 | Dusan BORKOVIC | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:53.146 |
| 13 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:53.736 |
| 14 | René MUNNICH | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:53.778 |
| 15 | Rob HUFF | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:53.900 |
| 16 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:53.998 |
| 17 | James THOMPSON | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:54.526 |
| 18 | Franz ENGSTLER | BMW E90 320 TC | 1:56.804 |
| 19 | John FILIPPI | Seat Leon WTCC | 1:58.043 |
| 20 | Filipe DE SOUZA | BMW E90 320 TC | 2:00.464 |
| 21 | Williams LOK | Seat Leon WTCC | 2:01.481 |