After the opening round of the season, José María López was leading the drivers' championship by one point over of teammate Sébastien Loeb.

After a crash in race two caused significant damage to his car, Tom Coronel missed the French round while his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 was repaired.

[2] López led a Citroën 1–2 in Friday testing, he headed Loeb and the Zengő Motorsport Honda of Norbert Michelisz.

The session was interrupted when Yvan Muller collided with a tyre stack and damaged his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC.

On lap ten Michelisz came together with López, sending the Citroën sideways although neither car sustained damage and they continued in fourth and fifth.

After a number of laps fighting over second place, Tarquini made a mistake over one of the kerbs and this allowed Loeb to close in and pass the Honda.

At this point Loeb took out one of the tyre stacks while attempting a pass on Dušan Borković and the debris on the track led to the safety car being brought out.

At the back of the field John Filippi collided with Engstler which brought out the safety car for a second time, Chilton meanwhile was issued with a drive–through penalty for causing the collision with Morbidelli on the opening lap.

At the front López led Muller home at the checkered flag with Monteiro taking the final podium spot.