Swiss team Maurer Motorsport joined the grid for Morocco, running a pair of Chevrolet Lacettis for local drivers Ismaïl Sbaï and Youssaf El Marnissi.

The session was red flagged when Sbaï put his Lacetti into the wall, while Maurer Motorsport teammate El Marnissi stopped with technical problems.

[2] Chevrolet factory driver Alain Menu also crashed during the session on the dusty track, hitting a wall and causing considerable damage to his car.

[3] Tarquini topped the first practice session on Saturday morning, ahead of BMW driver Priaulx and SR-Sport teammate Tiago Monteiro.

[5] Yvan Muller was the early pacesetter in Q1, before Chevrolet teammate Menu crashed into the wall on the exit of Turn 14, bringing out the red flags.

The session did not restart, giving Tarquini pole position ahead of Huff, Jordi Gené, Monteiro, Muller, Nykjær and Coronel.

[8] Pole sitter Priaulx made a good start to Race 2, but drama unfolded behind as fellow front-row starter Michelisz stalled his car.

Darryl O'Young swerved to avoid Huff's stricken Chevrolet and hit Bamboo Engineering teammate Harry Vaulkhard and then Scuderia Proteam Motorsport driver Hernández.

Farfus limped back to retire in the pits, but the safety car was deployed again to remove the stranded Chevrolet of Menu and clear up the debris from the accident.