Yukinori Taniguchi did not take part in the round due to damage sustained at the Race of China, leaving bamboo-engineering to run a single car for Darryl O'Young.

[3] Four other local drivers joined the grid for the round with André Couto joining SUNRED Engineering for his annual appearance at the race, RPM Racing Team ran a BMW 320si for Mak Ka Lok and Corsa Motorsport ran a pair of Chevrolet Lacettis for Felipe De Souza and Kuok Io Keong.

[3] The 778 Auto Sport team entered an ex–Swedish Touring Car Championship Peugeot 308 for Lo Ka Chun.

[6] Alain Menu led a Chevrolet 1–2–3 in the first free practice session on Friday morning, Tiago Monteiro was best of the rest in fourth.

Having come to a stop in the middle of the track, the front of the car caught fire and once Barth was extracted from the wreckage he was taken to the local hospital for precautionary checks.

[8] The two championship contenders filled the front row with Huff securing pole position for race one ahead of Muller.

The second session was interrupted by a red flag when Dahlgren's Volvo crashed at the Solitude Esses, like Barth his car burst into flames shortly after the accident.

When the session resumed, Huff secured pole position having beaten Muller on both his flying laps, Gabriele Tarquini was third while O'Young was the quickest independent driver in bamboo's only car.

Further back Couto spun at the high speed Mandarin corner and collected Menu, the safety car picked up the field at the end of the lap as the debris was cleared.

The race was resumed on lap five, Monteiro went straight on down the escape road at the Lisboa corner and dropped to near the back of the field.