Yvan Muller had established an outright lead in the drivers' championship after the previous round in Morocco, twelve points clear of SEAT Sport teammate Gabriele Tarquini.

[1] With both George Tanev and Vito Postiglione being forced to miss the round, Scuderia Proteam Motorsport ran just one car for independents' championship leader Porteiro.

[2] Local French GT Championship regular Laurent Cazenave joined Wiechers-Sport for the weekend alongside full-time driver Stefano D'Aste.

Marin Čolak, Coronel and Boardman finished the session seventh, eighth and ninth ahead of Jordi Gené, Tiago Monteiro and Rickard Rydell.

Independent drivers Porteiro and Engstler along with Sergio Hernández made up the top ten, narrowly denying Alessandro Zanardi and D’Aste progression into Q2.

Huff led the pack for the remaining 17 laps with Farfus and Jörg Müller having to settle for second and third despite applying constant pressure on the front man.

Spaniard Hernández made good progress in the second half of the race to secure fifth place overall with fellow countryman Porteiro winning the independent category in sixth overall, however he was eventually excluded by the stewards for hitting Coronel.

While Priaulx continued and crossed the line fourth, Müller received a drive-through penalty for pitting during the suspension of the race and finished 18th.

Zanardi stormed through the pack to achieve fifth place and SEAT Sport men Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller scored points in sixth and seventh.

The race ended under the red flags with one lap remaining after Cayrolle and Larini, who were battling for eighth spot, were involved in a collision.