After round three, Yvan Muller was leading the championship on 100 points, 24 ahead of Tarquini and Chevrolet RML teammate Robert Huff.

[3] Tiago Monteiro was quickest in the drying conditions of free practice one on Saturday morning, with team–mates Tom Coronel and Jordi Gené second and third.

The session was brought to a close four minutes early when the engine in Tarquini's SEAT blew, bringing out the red flags.

In the ten-minute Q2 session, eight of the ten competing cars set their first flying laptimes before rain began to fall over the circuit.

As the leaders remained in order, Kristian Poulsen passed Corthals for the independents lead and 12th place overall.

Fellow front-row starter Norbert Michelisz made a slow getaway, dropping him to eighth.

Farfus attempted to pass Tarquini for sixth around the outside of turn one, but ran wide and dropped back to eighth behind Michelisz.