[1] Muller was leading the drivers' championship, he had his second opportunity to secure a fourth world title during the weekend.

The Chevrolet Cruze LTs and the BMW 320sis making their first appearances of the season started on the base weight of 1,150 kg.

[4] Franz Engstler was unable to take part in the event due to illness, his replacement was local racer Masaki Kano.

[5] Liqui Moly Team Engstler entered a naturally aspirated BMW 320si for Macanese driver Henry Ho.

[8] Campos Racing reduced their entry to a single car for Fernando Monje with Hugo Valente not participating.

China Dragon Racing joined the grid with a pair of Chevrolet Cruze LTs for Felipe De Souza and Kin Veng Ng,[9] the Son Veng Racing Team ran another naturally aspirated Cruze for series debutant Jerónimo Badaraco.

[10] Wiechers-Sport ran Yukinori Taniguchi as the replacement for Fredy Barth who was unable to participate due to other commitments.

[6] Muller led Pepe Oriola at the end of the first test session on Friday which saw a number of red flags.

Izawa was outside the top 12 and made a last attempt to get through to the second part of qualifying but a trip out onto the grass meant he failed to improve his time, ensuring Robert Huff in 12th was safely through to the next session.

At the end of the first lap Monteiro attempted to pass MacDowall but ran wide and dropped back behind the RML cars.

At half distance, Michelisz had built up a healthy lead over MacDowall who had the close company of Muller and Chilton; there was a gap to the rest of the field behind them led by Tarquini.

With the yellow flags out in the first sector, overtaking opportunities were limited as the leading pair of Bennani and Coronel pulled away from the Hondas of Tarquini and Monteiro.

On lap 17 Coronel went into the lead, passing Bennani at the first corner when the Proteam Racing driver ran out wider than usual.