Race one was won by Tom Chilton of RML, his first victory in the World Touring Car Championship.

Race two was won by Gabriele Tarquini of the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team.

[4] Pepe Oriola led a Chevrolet 1–2–3 in free practice one ahead of Chilton and Yvan Muller.

The session was stopped early on when the ROAL Motorsport car of Tom Coronel crashed into the barriers at turn 11.

The session was briefly stopped with Valente's Campos Racing teammate Fernando Monje crashed into the barriers at turn 9.

Marc Basseng put in a quick lap at the end of the session to move into the top twelve and Mehdi Bennani was another late improver at the expense of Coronel.

Bennani spun on lap two with Barth having to avoid the spinning BMW, both dropped to near the back of the field as a result.

On lap ten Coronel was able to pass Huff with a small tap on the back bumper of the SEAT.

Muller made a pass on lap four at the first hairpin, Monteiro then pulled off a similar move on Nash at the final corner.

Chilton had a slide at turn two at the start of lap 12, narrowly avoiding O'Young as he came across the track.